A New Perspective

So it's been awhile a long while since I've been here. I could sit here and make excuses but I'm not going to. Truth is I just haven't been visiting the site. I've been avoiding the subject of cancer completely. But it's that time of year that we start thinking about all the Relay for Life activities we're going to have. And this is the time of year I sit down and think about everyone in my life that I've watched battle cancer and the reason I volunteer my time. With Relay on its way and plans beginning to take shape I had to step back the other day and think about what I was going to plan for the survivor activities this year. Last year was my first year as the chair and it had to be the most meaningful thing I've done. I had helped out in previous years and I know what people with cancer go through I've had plenty of family and friends go through it. But to be in charge of the survivor activities and to stand up on that stage really gives you such a different outlook on things. These people are there to help find a cure for the disease that is affecting them. They are right there with us walking and working to defeat this. You stand on stage and you announce names of survivors and you walk around and have people stop you and thank you for your work. But for me it's not about the time I put in. It's about my mom being a survivor and my uncle who died of lung cancer, my best friend having cancer 4 times in the last 5 years and surviving. It's about being sure that this disease goes away and doesn't affect others lives the way it has mine because those 3 I named are just 3 in a long list of others in my life that have been affected by cancer. But you see things differently when you are in the middle of the Relay for Life and you see these people go on with their lives. The fight for normality in the midst of treatments, surgeries and blood work. And the entire time we complain about the smallest things in our life going wrong. We should be thankful for those who have been affected still being with us and we should give our time to be sure that we don't lose more than those we already have. I wish everyone would get the perspective I did just by doing a little extra to help those who need our support most.