Monday, June 21, 2004

Books...

If you know me even just a little bit, you're probably aware that I'm a total fiend when it comes to books. Love them. LOVE them. Voractious reader. Could spend hours in the Strand (cheaper than Barnes or Borders) and walk out with several bag-fuls. (not sure if that's a word or a Hannah-made-up-hyphenated something)

Well, one of my newest, latest faves is Laurie Notaro - so, so funny. The tear-streamed face, ohmigod I'm going to pee my pants I'm laughing so hard - on the bus, no less! - kind of funny.

You should totally check her out...she's got the kind of 'club' I think my friends would like: an Idiot Girls Action-Adventure Club. With membership certificates and magnets and everything. We're cool.

PS Whatever you, don't ask my family about how I was a bookworm. My sister might wax poetic on an embarrassingly large number of Hannah-is-a-dork stories...but that's just more proof that, uh..um, I'm really cool. That's my story!

I'm having a moment like this:

"Wanna go with me to the Sadie Hawkins dance on Friday?"

"No," he said simply, but I didn't believe him. I knew better. Boys will be shy. They are afraid of love, I told myself, you must coax them, show them the love light. I followed him all the way to his PE class at the gym with the Elizabeth smile frozen on my face as I asked, "Why? Why won't you go with me? Why?" until we hit the baseball field and he just took off running.

Autobiography of a Fat Bride, Laurie Notaro (p8)

...and there you have it. Boys say girls are complicated and will never be figured out. Lemme tell ya, folks, boys aren't so simple or 'easy' either. Just when you think you've got at least a little bit of a clue - dammit if it's not yanked from your grasp.

Just ask me about waterfights - I dare you. And I'll give ya a dooooooozy of a story. I just don't get it. And I thought he liked me?!?!

Ay.

Thursday, June 10, 2004

Chicago...oh how I love the Midwest.

Ok, so I don't. But walking 26+ miles there in two days with thousands of other people was pretty fan-damn-tab-u-lous. It's always nice to truly walk in someone else's shoes, so to be on the receiving end of all the 'stuff' that I dish out - fundraising, blah blah, training, blah blah blah - is always interesting, and sometimes downright humbling. As always, I'm reminded why I'm committed...why I chose to walk this path.

One of the most touching moments, though, was after Closing Ceremonies, I was walking next to a "mom-type" woman. Conversation was somehow initiated by one of us; typical post-walk chatter about feet and blisters. I asked who she was walking for and how she got involved (yes, yes, typical Walker Buddy, staff blather). She kinda smiled, her arm around my waist, my arm around her shoulders, and said she was walking for her daughter, Dawn. Dawn was a 21-month survivor. Dawn had just turned 32.

And it hit me...again. It very well could be me. It hasn't been so far. There's no one in my family - that we know of - that's been diagnosed; we've got every other kind of cancer, though. The statistics say that 85% of women diagnosed this year will have no family history. It could be me. Unfortunately, it's not as rare as it once was to be under 50 and be diagnosed with breast cancer. It could be me. I'm about to turn 30 and I do self-exams and I go to the gyno (ack!) regularly. I'd hate for my mom to walk in my honor.

So there it is guys and dolls. Time to keep going...on with the fundraising...on with awareness. On with trying my damndest to make a difference. Somedays the difference is just in my own head and heart, but that, too, can be just enough.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Ghandi

Thanks for be along for the ride with me...you have no idea how much your love and support means.

Smiles,
Hannah