Bring out your Pink!

Ah…October.  What a lovely month!  October happens to be my favorite month for many reasons.  One because the trees are all changing from their beautiful green to the vibrant oranges, yellows and eventually browns.  There’s a crisp snap in the air every morning that reminds you that its fall.  The smell of wood burning in stoves as the days and nights get slightly cooler.  Ah yes, October, my favorite month.

It’s also my favorite month because the whole world, it seems, stops and recognizes breast cancer.  Pink is everywhere…and I mean everywhere – and no I’m not looking in my closet…In the grocery stores, products supporting breast cancer come out with pink on their boxes, or pink promotions of some sort.  It’s the month where the call to action is PINK and PINK is the word.

There is a small part of me that is afraid that the PINK is overdone a bit and by the amount of awareness that’s out there these days, that people will start glossing over it and, worst, ignoring it.  Still, Pink is in for the month of October.

Of course October is also the month after the 3day. I’m usually still on the 3day high in October, and this year with the Seattle 3Day later, the high is definitely going to pull me through the month of October.

I’ve written a lot about the spirit of the 3day and have tried as best I could to get those of you who haven’t been around it to understand just what a gloriously welcoming and warm and non-judgmental place it is.  It’s like trying to show how impressive the Grand Canyon is by a picture. You don’t get it until you’re standing on its edge and gawking in wonder.  I still gawk in wonder at the 3day. It never ceases to surprise me with the emotion, the love, the joy, and the pain that seeps out of those 3 long, exhausting days. 

I worry that as each year passes that friends and family will hear me talk about the 3Day and roll their eyes and think, “There she goes again.”  For me, I get excited about the 3day even though I am not walking in it.  I still get to be a part of it, and support Team Wraspir with hot dogs, chairs for their weary bones, and comedy (fell down a hill this year and got my butt all muddy, had a sympathy blister for them and whined about it).  I plan for months for the 3Day.  I start thinking immediately following the 3Day what I can do next year (yes, the true PM Goddess in me comes out and I do a little post mortem).  I start seeking pink stuff on sale for next year’s event.  Plan. Reflect. Plan some more. Reflect a whole lot more.

I recently read a blog that talked about the 3Day and really can’t say it any better than this blogger did.

“This one event has given me more hope than any scan result.

On the 3-Day for the Cure you are transported. Transported to a world where the cure is already a reality: a world without death, a world with only hope and love. You are transported from a place of helplessness to a place full of power. From a place of illness to a place of immense strength. From a place of disappointment, to a place of success. Surrounded by the sound of thousands of determined feet, you can't help but feel carried. When you cry, and you will cry, there are thousands of shoulders available for comfort.

Everyone has a story, one is sadder than the next, and you are no longer alone. I also think the sheer length of the walk, three days and 60 miles, makes every interaction more poignant. Like a summer love where two days can feel like two years, friendships formed along the 3-Day for the Cure feel like lifelong bonds after only a few minutes.

And the finish line!

Thousands of women and men line up shoulder to shoulder in their matching victory shirts and form a tunnel through which you are literally carried. When you cross the finish line, bandaged and broken. When you hobble across the finish and think, surely, I cannot move another step. Instead of collapsing, you are greeted by thousands of high fives, deafening cheers, and are rained on by your fellow walker's tears of joy and sorrow. You are lifted up. Your limp is transformed into a confident stride. By being part of something bigger, you feel as though you could easily walk another 60.”

*sniff sniff

Ahem…right…pass the Kleenex

And so, here we are, October – with all its fall colors, of which Pink is one of them now.   I’ll smile just a little more this month as I see people with their pink on, supporting the cause by buying Hamburger Helper for the Cure, I’ll know that people are still very much aware of this deadly disease and how every little bit helps.  From the 3Day raising millions of dollars every year, to the purchasing of “pink” products in the store, with it all, we will find a cure. Of course if we find a cure, I can’t wear pink – but I’d gladly – GLADLY- give up my pink hat/wig/shirt collection.  Gladly!