Recently my daughter brought home her nomination packet for the National Junior Honor Society. It is the first time that her school is participating in this type of society and as her mother I am so very proud of her. In reading over the material she was a little nervous about the qualities she didn't have and was starting to get down on herself. She is kind of shy and therefore doesn't have a lot of experience in the leadership department or the service department.
I found out that she and her father participated in Relay for Life last year....how did I not know about this? It seems like my child has two different lives sometimes. I feel a bit lost when I don't know about the girl that lives at her dad's three days a week.
Yesterday I had decided that I wanted to put together a team for Relay for Life. In the last few years I have lost my grandmother, my aunt, and my cousin to cancer. My boyfriend lost his grandmother to cancer. My daughter lost her great aunt to cancer. I have several friends who have battled cancer and won. This is such a couragous thing. In 2000, I had pre-cancer of the cervix. I never considered it having cancer because I didn't have chemo or radiation. I had a surgery and some follow up and did not have to do much more than that. I don't feel like I battled anything other than that month before I had the surgery where I felt like my life was altered forever.
I work in the Emergency Room and I see my community battle cancer all the time. Some are young, some are children, some are my co-workers, some are old. With their battle comes the battle the family must go through as well. Being in the healthcare field lends me to have that hope that someday, despite Big Pharma, we will find a cure for cancer....someway, somehow.
Last night there was a meeting for the volunteers (Chloe is helping with the Luminaries) and I attended because Chloe was there. This group of people is so excited about this project. They want to spread the word and have as much of the community attend as possible. Cancer touches all corners of the city you live in whether you are rich or poor. It's devastation feels the same across the line. It was inspiring to hear all the great fund raising ideas and community outreach projects that people are thinking up.
After we left the meeting, Chloe and I were brainstorming the different things we could do. She is going to set up a donation area for gently used clothing for abuse victims that will go to help patient't at the Corning Hospital ER. Half of the monetary donations collected will go to Relay for Life. I thought that I could put my fabric scraps to use by making Lavender and Rice Eye Sachets to help soothe tired eyes and tension headaches. She was very excited and told me that she loves volunteering and that it makes her feel so much better about herself. I never knew this about her because she keeps a lot to herself and isn't always expressive about what she loves and doesn't love. It really made my heart happy. She inspires me to be a better person.
So last night I made a post to my Facebook page to see if a few of my local nurses and friends would like to join the Corning ER and Friends Team. I was shocked to find that within an hour I had 17 people on my team. It really made my heart get all warm and fuzzy. I live in a great community and work with fantastic people.
If you would like to visit my fundraising page and donate you can find it here: Corning ER and Friends Team.
Thank you for your support.
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