Our team this year in the Relay for Life was Team Braveheart. We like to consider ourselves Bravehearts in the fight against the enemy and our team was made up of young and old, healthy and otherwise.
We had one of our own, a 17 year old diabetic dishwasher who walked for his grandma, his colleague, whose step mom passed from breast cancer, donated his lunch money to walk. There was the young girl we see step up consistently – the one with the wounded heart from saying goodbye to one of the youngest of Bravehearts in her own family.
We had a patron from the other side of the bar that felt she was already part of the team because she just belonged here. Another patron…whose husband was the team mascot and set up the tent and encouraged us all night long as his survivor spouse let us paint her face and hair on arriving from a long day’s work and drive from Toronto and then kept her on the track instead of a warm bed overnight.
We had another Braveheart who signs off her emails with “life isn’t about surviving the storm, it’s about learning to dance in the rain” and she danced the victory lap at 5 am as we linked hands to splash one more lap in that rain that was relentless from 3 o’clock on. And there was the young brave that became a family member at McKecks by learning the trade as he watched and knew he somehow belonged to this family, no matter where his primary residence was….
There were also the efforts of the rest of our team…holding the fort at the restaurant in their Relay T-shirts and working the night and all the following day so we could sleep, and for this old gal, reset the body clock. There were the choppers, and stirrers, and deliverers of chili to the party of 700 at midnight, and it was so good to eat hot food at that point of the night.
Then there was the ultimate gratitude of knowing we belong to a little haven of compassion that rolls up it’s sleeves and does something, rather than wait for someone else to do it.
We saluted the survivors, the committee, fellow villagers, the residents of tent city all there for the same cause; churches, schools, businesses, family, neighbours, friends….and we slept the sweet sleep that is often taken for granted on a daily basis.
Thank you Haliburton for one memorable evening to celebrate, remember and fight back. Until next year…..
Relay for Life 2010 Recap
Written by Karen
Click to enlarge
Our team this year in the Relay for Life was Team Braveheart. We like to consider ourselves Bravehearts in the fight against the enemy and our team was made up of young and old, healthy and otherwise.
We had one of our own, a 17 year old diabetic dishwasher who walked for his grandma, his colleague, whose step mom passed from breast cancer, donated his lunch money to walk. There was the young girl we see step up consistently – the one with the wounded heart from saying goodbye to one of the youngest of Bravehearts in her own family.
We had a patron from the other side of the bar that felt she was already part of the team because she just belonged here. Another patron…whose husband was the team mascot and set up the tent and encouraged us all night long as his survivor spouse let us paint her face and hair on arriving from a long day’s work and drive from Toronto and then kept her on the track instead of a warm bed overnight.
We had another Braveheart who signs off her emails with “life isn’t about surviving the storm, it’s about learning to dance in the rain” and she danced the victory lap at 5 am as we linked hands to splash one more lap in that rain that was relentless from 3 o’clock on. And there was the young brave that became a family member at McKecks by learning the trade as he watched and knew he somehow belonged to this family, no matter where his primary residence was….
There were also the efforts of the rest of our team…holding the fort at the restaurant in their Relay T-shirts and working the night and all the following day so we could sleep, and for this old gal, reset the body clock. There were the choppers, and stirrers, and deliverers of chili to the party of 700 at midnight, and it was so good to eat hot food at that point of the night.
Then there was the ultimate gratitude of knowing we belong to a little haven of compassion that rolls up it’s sleeves and does something, rather than wait for someone else to do it.
We saluted the survivors, the committee, fellow villagers, the residents of tent city all there for the same cause; churches, schools, businesses, family, neighbours, friends….and we slept the sweet sleep that is often taken for granted on a daily basis.
Thank you Haliburton for one memorable evening to celebrate, remember and fight back. Until next year…..
More photos coming soon…