I can recall living with my friend Lesley back in the 90s and renting about 10 movies a week between January and March of each year....holed up in my bedroom ...watching them all back to back. My sister worked at Blockbuster at the time, so it didn't cost me anything. I could never bring myself to be active or even be social. Some say it's the February blues. It's quite possible, since the days are short, the weather is cold and gloomy and people are forced to spend a ton of time inside.
My grandmother died in February. My father was sick
in February and died early March. And then there was last year, where my sister was diagnosed with cancer and went through major surgery and treatment.In February.
I was hoping that this year would be different...that I could get through the month without anything bad happening. Not so lucky. My good friend Karen was diagnosed with breast cancer this month. You have never, and will never meet anyone more active than her. She plays on about 3 baseball teams, 4 football teams, 2 floor hockey teams and an ice hockey team. When she's not playing team sports, she is snowshoeing, hiking, ice-skating or
walking with her 78 yr old mom. She is more full of life than anyone I know. She has a positive attitude that is contagious. If it weren't for her positive nature, I doubt I could have gotten through several shitty stretches within the last year. When I think of most of the times I was doubled over with laughter, she was usually the reason for it. We have such a good time together. I've known her for over 25 years, and I hope 25 more.So why her? Why my sister? Both of them have never smoked, never done drugs, don't drink coffee or pop, hardly drink alcohol, and live pretty healthy lives. It honestly makes no sense to me. None. I almost feel like maybe if we poison our bodies by pickling our livers or blackening our lungs, we may have a better chance of avoiding it. Maybe those foreign chemicals actually have a reverse effect or something. I know this sounds asinine, but seriously, what the hell is going on?
Both of them are 37/38. I'm not even the one going through this and I think life is completely unfair. I know what is in store for Karen and it makes me really sad for her. For my sister, I decided to shave my head. Seemed like a big thing at the time, but now I look back and I don't feel like it was any sort of real accomplishment. After all, I just sat there and had my head shaved for me.
As you all know, I have been doing this Running Room thing. I am up to running 4kms....and I should say that I still haven't hit a point where I like it. I do it because I said I
would. Well, now I think I will go the extra mile (get it?) and run a 10k for breast cancer. I know I will hate every second of training and the actual run, but I am healthy and happy and I would do this 100 times over if it could make Karen healthy again.IN A HEARTBEAT.
