Monday 31 August 2009

Cranky McCrankerton is wearing her cranky pants.

I want to write a full post, something hearty and satisfying for you to read. But the catch for me is that I am feeling cranky and whatever I write won't be that nice or uplifting. I am sure that would probably be more entertaining to read but I'd likely regret whatever it is that I wrote.

I saw my chiropractor this morning and was looking forward to telling her how cranky I feel. I started to think about how she'll react to that and realized that she was going to tell me it has to do with some planetary thing and everyone is feeling it. Then I got annoyed that she was going to say that to me. Can't I just even have this crankiness be mine and mine alone?!

Sure enough she told me something about some planet in retrograde and that everyone is feeling impatient and triggered and that it's not just me. But then she allowed me to unleash some of my crankiness in her office and it felt quite good getting it out. She told me to write. Write it out. This is the beginning of that. The rest of it will be private.

Here is the short list of what I am cranky about right now.
Cooper is trying to sleep on my arm while I type and then biting my arm when I move too much.
My hair is ridiculous.
A very specific pair of stupid pants that I own (not the cranky ones)
My room is cluttered and messy.
A scar on my foot that is taking too long to fade.
Mosquitos.
Driving.



Tuesday 18 August 2009

A moment of silence


The walk

This past weekend was the big event that I have been training and fundraising for for the past year, The Weekend to End Breast Cancer. Our team, The Monkey Sisters, raised $20 398.63 so far for the fight against women's cancers and the money is still coming in. Thank you!! The focus of the Weekend in the past has always been breast cancer, this year they changed it to all women's cancers and next year they are changing the name of the event to The Weekend to End Women's Cancers.

I still haven't figured out how to put the experience into meaningful words. 'It was amazing!' doesn't quite seem to cut it. Inspiring, uplifting, moving, hard, exhausting, worthwhile, draining, emotional. These are all applicable words but they are still just words. The Weekend is an experience like no other I've ever had. My biggest thank yous are for the crew and volunteers who supported us and cheered us on throughout the two days. When times were tough, they were positive, energized, enthusiastic and kind. They high-fived us, sang to us, danced for us, handed us drinks and food, told us we were doing great, and made us feel proud to be walking. We couldn't have done it without them.

We got so much love and support from other people too. People driving past would honk and wave. People walking past would sometimes clap or simply say 'thank you' as we went by. In residential areas people tied pink ribbons to their fence posts or doorways. They had signs out saying things like "Thank you! A 9-year survivor lives here!" or "You are walking for me, thank you." These signs always made us teary. People wrote "You can do it" and "Go walkers" in chalk on sidewalks. Families set up lemonade stands and kids handed us dixie cups of pink lemonade. A family in east van set out tables of watermelon, homemade donuts, pakoras and juice for us. When we thanked them for the food and drink they just thanked us back.

I don't think I had any idea before walking how much of an impact this weekend really had on people. I always thought of it in terms of the money that we were fundraising and how that helped people. I had no idea the walk itself would garner so many thank yous. I had thought it was was a cruel joke to make us each raise $2000 and then force us to walk 60km as our reward. The reward, it turns out, is seeing the impact that doing this event has on people and you see that by walking through the city.

Our team of 9 all crossed the finish line arm in arm with tears streaming down our faces. I am so proud of my Monkey Sisters! I can't quite believe I did it! Before the walk, I knew that I wouldn't be doing it two years in a row. I had thought that I would instead volunteer next year to help out on the crew. During the walk, when my knee was aching and my hip was throbbing and the bottom of my foot was blistered and sore, I knew still that I wouldn't be walking again next year. After the walk, I thought to myself, 'I could do this again next year'. So you never know. I may very well sign up to do this all over again in 2010. If I do, I'll be looking to recruit some new team members so start training!

Wednesday 12 August 2009

Roomie life.

You all forgive me, I assume, for not writing as often. I had thought that once I settled into my new apt that I would have an abundance of time and topics. But it turns out that having a roommate is fun and very entertaining. I don't spend as much time sitting at my computer, writing blog posts anymore.

In the beginning, it was like having a sleepover every night with an old friend that you hadn't seen in a while. We'd stay up late talking and catching up and getting to know each other all over again. Now that it has been two and a half months we have settled into more of a normal routine and we are living our separate lives while sharing a living space.

I apologize for the short post but I am on my way out for a coffee and stroll with my mom. And that beats sitting at a computer any day!