Relay for Life

Last year my Rotary club decided to get involved with Relay for Life, and I volunteered to be the team Captain. It was the first time I had been involved with the Relay. Relay for life is a fundraiser to find a cure a cancer. You get a team together of up to 15 people, and you walk for 12-24 hours (depending on how long your cities relay is). The idea is that cancer never sleeps, so we don't sleep either, we stay up all night to raise money, to fight back. Last year My Mom and sister came to the Relay to support me, and walked the track with me for the silent lap, done in honer of those that have passed from cancer.

I had no idea that the next time I would be honoring Mom.

The day was busy, and hot (we had a record high of 101) as we prepared for the events of the night. I was having contractions throughout the day, but they were too inconsistent to worry about, so I just kept doing my thing. My sister Judy and her family, my brother Matt and his family, and my Dad all came to the Relay for the silent lap this year...and I think Mom was there too.
They read her name as they lit a torch in her honer, to show that her light continues to shine, even thought she is no longer living on this earth. It was a tender moment. I couldn't help but think of her last year, smiling at me, with Layla on her shoulders as we walked together.

I love you Mom, and sometimes I still feel you smiling at me.





On another note, I had an interesting time with Layla at the Relay. The Chickie's came with me early to help set up, and get things ready. They where hot, and tired. As I turned my teams money in to the accounting department I kept smelling the most awful smell. It was like a combination of garbage, and manure, or maybe a dead animal. Carter began to cry "Mom, why is it so stinky over here, I want to leave. The smell is making me sick". The smell kept coming in waves, and people around me were noticing it also, but then the smell seemed to disappear for some reason.
I turned around to see that Layla was not near me. I looked all around, and she was nowhere to be seen. Carter and I had been looking for her. We had been looking for a couple of minutes when we heard over the speakers "We have a lost little girl named Layla on the stage, she is 3, and can't find her mommy" horrified, I began to walk to the center stage, which was more than a football field away from me. Again I hear "would Layla's Mother please come to the stage, you have lost your little girl", I was walking as fast as my 9 months pregnant swollen hot feet would take me, but again "We need the Mother of Layla to come to the stage right away....Layla is wearing a pink shirt and a purple princess skirt. If you are with this girl..." As I got within eye sight, I waved to her, and realized the whole arena was looking at me. I just knew they were thinking to themselves "..and she thinks she can handle another one?", but I tried to ignore them as I claimed my lost little lady.
As we walked back to our tent I repeatedly heard "hey, there is the lost little girl". I wanted to hide, but when we got to the tent the smell seemed to come back.
I looked at Layla and noticed something strange...her socks where brown. Why were her socks brown? That is when it all sank in, and I saw the brown streaks running down her inner legs. Horrified again, I realized we didn't have a change of clothes, or wet whips with us...they were in the car about a mile away.
UUUGGGGGG!
Thank heavens for Grandma Hall, and her recent move putting her near the Relay for life field.
Now that day is over. The good, the bad, and the smelly.