LPL Relay for Life 2007

Okay, okay, I'm a wee bit late on this post, but I felt it was too important to overlook, like I do with most of my bloggy ideas. Seriously, I could probably post three times a day; however, I'm just not that ambitious.

Moving on to the relay. This year I joined Liverpool Public Library's Relay for Life team and helped raise money for the American Cancer Society. This is only my second time ever to get involved in relay, and I'm suspicious that I'll be involved every year from here on out. LPL's team captains are amazing and inspiring. They fund raise relentlessly in the months building up to the big day. This year's relay took place from 7pm Friday, June 15 until 7am Saturday, June 16. I'm told the turnout was only around half of last year's, but I'm so proud of my team because we surpassed our fundraising goal of $1500 with a total amount raised of just over $1800.

I'm also proud of myself for going over my personal goal. I was able to contribute $235 toward my team's monies, thanks to those generous people who donated on my relay page. Thank you so much for helping me achieve my goal. You know who you are. You are helping empower others to fight back against cancer.

I want to share a pic of the members of our team who were left standing the next morning after an entire night without sleep.


I'm so proud of them. We had a looooooooong night! Here are our puffy eyes and delirious expressions to prove it.

I must be insane because I left relay at 6am and went home to sand the floors in my house. I made it until 'noon, about 29 hours with no sleep, and then napped until 2pm. My loving husband continued to work without me. Well, as much as my body wanted to sleep, my brain wasn't havin' any of that. It said, "The sun's out, get off your bum." So, I did. I continued sanding most of the evening. My body was completely drained, but I had to keep working. Our goal with the floors is to sand, stain, and polyurethane so I can set up my craft area upstairs. (We're done sanding, but haven't stained yet. We're taking baby steps.)

I got my second wind around 5pm on Sunday and sanded more until midnight. I swear, it took me about 3 days to get over the relay!

a penny for my thoughts?

I find it amazing that books, fictional or no, have the ability to bring me to tears or have me laughing out loud instantly when my usual person finds difficulty showing any abundance of emotion whatsoever. I typically come off as mildly pleasant to others when inside, I'm so excited I could burst my spleen with anymore happiness. (Anger appears more readily, however.)

I've evolved into a crier. Yes, Mother, a crier, just like you. Most things make me cry these days, whether sad or happy. I haven't read a book in the past year and a half that hasn't brought tears, and if you look at what I've been reading, you may question me on that. I didn't cry during my wedding though, which is weird because I always cry as a guest at others' weddings. I even cry while reading about someone else's wedding. That's what I'm trying to say, I guess, is that I'm filled to the brim with emotions when they involve other people's lives, not my own. It's very strange. I must admit that I did weep silently on my wedding night, long after all the guests returned home and the only people left were my husband and me. What a relief...followed by four days of illness during my honeymoon. I guess the release was too much. I still managed to enjoy myself very much in Victoria. And, I got a little reading in while there.

I'm so blessed to have a career that allows, or demands, reading books so often. I'm naturally drawn to text. What can I say? I'm a reader. I love being able to free my emotions, even if through empathy alone. Maybe I'll be able to someday look back at the various events in my life and put the feelings I felt down on paper, giving them life after all. I'm thinking of a book of sorts here, but another thought has surfaced. What about scrapbooking? I've recently become very motivated to start creating books of memories, and I think journaling on the pages will accomplish this need to externalize my inner expressions, emotions as I feel them, not as I show them. I'm inspired anew. 'Til next time...