The more you give, the more you receive!
 
It's breast cancer awareness month and we at La Muse are 'aware' - well aware!
 
October 3-5, 2008 Katie and Debra from La Muse as well as about 3000 other women participated in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day 60 mile walk.  Together we raised over 7.3 million dollars that weekend toward eradicating breast cancer from the face of the earth.  To say the least it was an absolutely incredible experience.  There were twelve of us that walked the entire 60 miles together and, needless to say, we are bonded for life.  Crazy as we are we'll shortly be signing up for the 3 Day in Philadelphia next October (yes, so that means the end to my pleas for donations is nowhere in sight). 
 
 When I signed up for the 3 Day last February I knew that I wanted it to be a longer, more involved journey for me than one weekend.  Part of my reason for signing up for the event was to meet new and interesting people that shared a common passion of wanting to make a contribution, to make a difference in people's lives - so I volunteered myself to lead training walks in my area.  The training walks started in early May and I led them each week on Sunday mornings.  Throughout the five months I must have met over 100 different ladies each one with their own story, with their own reason for partaking in this journey.  What a special group of women and I am blessed to have met each of them. 
 
Mary Mathewson and I met on that very first walk in May and she walked with me almost every Sunday until the event.  Mary kicked breast cancer's butt, her two sister's also kicked breast cancer's butt - their mom lost her battle with breast cancer.  Mary was doing the 3 Day for herself, for her family and most importantly, for her daughter.  Mary and I hit it off right from the start; we're both pretty feisty, we're passionate in our thoughts and actions, we share a common interest in wine :), we both were looking forward to creating new relationships and we both wanted to 'make a difference.'  What neither of us realized on that very first walk was how much we would 'make a difference' to each other.  Week after week we would walk together and I would learn more about her; about her strength, her endurance, her passion, her selflessness and her undying sense of humor.  I learned that Mary's last breast cancer surgery was only a few months before we started training and as time went by I started to realize that for her, unlike me, this journey was an integral part of a healing process.
 
By the time the 3 Day event rolled around we had undeniably become friends.  I saw Mary throughout the weekend as she walked with her sisters and daughter at her side.  I laughed as I watched them dancing in the streets during the day and to the DJ in camp at night.  The finish line on Sunday was a frenzy - there were people everywhere and they were all cheering, applauding, dancing and just acting like women do who have finished a great feat and are darn proud of it!  As I was being swept up in all the action I suddenly found myself being given a great big bear hug and heard the words 'thank you' being said over and over into my ear.  It was Mary --- and we smiled, laughed, hugged and cried together and I wondered if she knew just how much our journey over the last five months meant to me, how special she is and how blessed I feel that we've become friends.  Did she realize how much of a difference she made in this one person's life?  I guess she was thinking the same thing-
 
A week went by and we all started to settle into our routines and I received an email from Mary:
 
 
"I want to thank you for your energy and leadership during this AMAZING journey. Your strength and positive attitude were integral to Sara, Chris and I doing this. I learned so much from you! This experience ended a rather dark chapter in my life - one I didn't realize would be so difficult. With your help and example, I was able to finish it in the light (sorry - gotta extend the metaphor! It's what I do!) I'm not sure if you realize what you bring to the people around you, but whatever it is - I'm glad my daughter got to see it. If she can grow up with people like you showing her that - regardless of what YOU experience, good is good and it's just what you do - she'll be OK. Thank you for that! And thank you for helping me to find that goodness, and more important that forward-thinking positivity again. I will do this walk as often as I can, for as long as I can because "the cause" means my daughter's future. But the next one starts from a much happier and lighter place than this one did - one not born of fear and "what ifs," one born of "why not?" I can't WAIT to see where it ends up!"
 
I'm an example to her daughter?  I think there could definitely be a debate as to whether I am fit to shape young minds - but ok, let's go with it. :) Yes, I got all teary eyed - and of course I wrote her back and told her how extraordinary she is - and we both got to revel a little bit in how darn cool we are.  Lol
 
If you've ever questioned the saying 'the more you give, the more you receive' let this story be one more reason to question no further.  Over the course of five months I committed to waking up early on Sundays, raising at least $2200 and spending a weekend with a group of amazing women whom I walked 60 miles with.  In return I received Sundays filled with joy and laughter, relationships that I cherish, one of most remarkable and unforgettable weekends of my life -  and the excitement of looking forward to doing it all over again!  I received more joy and happiness from this experience than I could ever have imagined.
 
Thank you to each one of you who supported me, to everyone who donated to the 3 Day, to the many women who joined my walks on Sunday mornings, to the awesome team of women I walked every mile of 60 with: Souzan, Dawn, Kristin, Jennifer, Dale, Kaci, Laurie, Laura, Linda, Keleigh & Katie, to Mary and Kim - the two ladies who were on my very first training walk, my very last training walk and almost every walk in between, to my husband, Darryel, whose love and support knows no bounds - and to my mom who has been battling cancer for eleven years and keeps on truckin'.  You are all in my heart - bring on Philly in 2009!!