A celebration of life

Despite grey skies, yesterday morning was beautiful. The Central New York Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure took place at the New York State Fairgrounds and it was, as usual, a time of joy tinged with sadness. I was a volunteer this year, and had the great privilege of working in the survivors tent.

According to The Post-Standard, there were 8,000 registrants and 2,000 supporters, sponsors and volunteers, and $800,000 was raised. It is difficult to explain to someone who has never attended a Race for the Cure just how amazing the event is. Yes, it is a fundraiser but it is more: it's a time for education, a time for remembrance, and, most importantly for me, a time to celebrate life.

Here are images that remain in my memory from yesterday:

- The young woman whose bald head was wrapped in a Ford Warriors in Pink scarf, walking hand-in-hand with her husband, whose head was shaved, perhaps in solidarity;

- The woman wearing a custom sweatshirt with "In Memory" photos on the front, and "In Honor Of" photos on the back;

- The man with two small children, one in a stroller, who told me that his wife is a recent survivor but was too weak to attend;

- The teenage boys wearing pink t-shirts, totally unconcerned and unembarrassed that they were wearing a color that many people deem as a "girl" color;

- The man wearing a grey survivor t-shirt, a good reminder that breast cancer is not just a women's disease; and,

- The Girl Scouts who had made 600 "I am the Cure" pins for survivors. They stood at the entrance to the tent for the entire morning, tirelessly handing out the pins.

It was my first time to volunteer but it will not be my last. Thank you to friends Betty and Kelli, and to my dear cousin Pam for donating to the event.

The best Mother's Day

I had a fantastic Mother's Day yesterday! I woke up much earlier than Aidan or James, so my day started with reading a book in the quiet house for about an hour, with Spenser dozing happily on my lap.

Once the guys got up and we had breakfast, we got ready for our day. I had chosen to spend the day at Green Lakes State Park, complete with picnic lunch, hiking and geocaching. The weather was fabulous: sunny, light breeze, temps in the low 60s. Green Lakes is a gorgeous park with two small glacial lakes that have walking paths around the shoreline.

We set off to find our first geocache. We were using a borrowed GPS unit and once we got accustomed to it, we found our first cache:


Woohoo! We were very excited to pull it from its hiding place:


We found the second cache rather easily, then took a break for lunch. After lunch, we walked around the perimeter of Green Lake first, then walked over to Round Lake to look for the third cache we had targeted. We had no luck locating the last cache; we have a good idea where it is hidden, but it was too muddy and too steep for us to get to the top of the ridge.

Instead, we enjoyed the beautiful views:




Spring is springing out all over central New York and pretty flowers are blooming everywhere, including what appears to be a purple trillium:


Our best estimate is that we walked at least three miles, so we were a bit tired when we returned home. I received my Mother's Day present last week, which was two rose bushes. With a new to us house, we have a lot of landscaping to do so I wanted a present we could plant and enjoy for years.

Thank you to James, Aidan and the gorgeous weather for the best Mother's Day ever!