It Takes a Community

We walked through several cites, San Francisco, Daly City, Sausalito, Mill Valley and probably a few others I didn’t recognize, and the communities were just amazing, the people were amazing.

There were designated Cheering Stations along our path, usually one in the middle of the morning walk and one in the middle of the afternoon walk. Family and friends of the walkers and crew could come out to these areas and cheer for us. Many were in place for several hours, cheering and smiling, Some had small pieces of hard candy or gum to help with mouths dry from the exertion. Sometimes small children would hand out stickers or other mementos. There was a lady with twin girls in a playpen. She was there to support her mom, who was walking. The babies were Larissa’s age. I stopped for a moment to talk and to thank her for bringing the girls to cheer. I told her that they are the same age of as my granddaughter and that seeing them encouraged me and strengthened me in my goals and my purpose. She thanked me for walking to help end breast cancer for the sake of her daughters and their future. Yep. You guessed it. More tears.

There was this lady who was there each morning, first thing, stationed within the first block or two of our path. She had a box of Kleenex in each hand. The tissue lady. A very practical way to show support – its cold and windy on the bay at night and what happens when you spend time outside in the cold and wind? Her simple gesture saved literally hundreds of shirt sleeves from becoming handkerchiefs that weekend!

There were several fire departments represented in our path. They cheered. They posed for pictures. They showed their support.

There were groups of high school cheerleaders. A boy scout troop was there the first night to help set up tents. As we walked through the cities, we passed through the downtown areas and some residential too. While downtown, we would pass outdoor restaurants and people would spontaneously stand and applaud us. Through the residential areas, kids would sit on the steps and watch and cheer, families would decorate the entry to their home and sometimes have upbeat music playing and they would sit and cheer. All along the path, in addition to the walk-sponsored signage guiding our way and encouraging us, there were hand written signs of all sorts, cheering individual walkers and signs saying thank you to all of us and all sorts of uplifting messages of encouragement.

There were sweep vans that drove back and forth on our path all weekend long. They were part of the all volunteer crew. But these were no ordinary vans. We had the Bunny Van, complete with bunny ears in the appropriate size. We had the TaTa Day Spa. We had Hookers for Hooters. They were there to protect us and to help those who couldn’t get to the next pit stop on their own but they also brought fun to the day.

Many of the women were survivors themselves. Big Red, one of the Hookers for Hooters, was celebrating 13 breast cancer free years that weekend. We celebrated right along with her.