Mar. 11: Relay for Life

Well, you better get used to me chatting up Relay for Life for the next few months. If you’re in the area, I invite you to join my team. If you’re not in the area or just don’t want to participate, I invite you to donate to my team’s fundraising efforts for American Cancer Society.

The Relay for Life in North Clackamas is July 16-17, 2011. It runs 24 hours straight, because cancer never sleeps. That doesn’t mean you won’t sleep if you participate—we’ll create a walking schedule that could easily exclude the nighttime hours if you’re gonna be a big baby about it.

The theme for Relay for Life this year is Relay Rodeo. After many fabulous suggestions for a team name, I’ve made my choice. You might not believe I could pass up these little beauties, mostly suggested by the very creative Michael J. Fox Devitt:

• The Slaughterhouse Seven
• 8 Seconds From Chemo
• Hot Dogs! Git Yer Hot Dogs
• Skoal Bandits
• The Rank Bulls
• Headin’ For Healin’
• Barn-y and Friends
• Cowboy Up--Cowgirl Down
• OJ Posse
• Cancer is Bullshit
• The Bum Steers
• All Tied Up (OMG, this one was a close second)
• The Daisy Dukes
• Chicks ‘n Chaps

I gotta tell ya, it was tempting to choose something with “cow pie” in it (more acceptable than “bullshit,” though having less oomph), but my team name is…

The Hoe-Downs

Yeah, it’s pretty awesome. Fancy Lori™ came up with it. She rocks with the ideas, for reals. Thank you, Fancy Lori™!

OK, so here’s what you need to know about being one of the Hoe-Downs:

1. You have to be in Clackamas on July 16 and/or 17.
2. You have to hate cancer’s big fat ugly ass.

Here are some things you might also want to know:

1. You can sign up for one-hour blocks of time to walk the track. You can sign up to walk as many one-hour blocks as you want, and if enough people sign up to walk you might not have to walk at all. (Lazy.)
2. You can walk in the middle of the night if you’d like to. The track is well-lit, you won’t be alone, and the other team members will love you for taking the middle of the night blocks.
3. You can bring a tent and camp out for 24 hours. I’m thinking me, Sunshine and Val doing the giggle thing all night long. How cool would that be? Of course, there’s room in the tent for more gigglers. Lots more gigglers.
4. During the day there will be all kinds of activities to participate in or watch. Last year there was a very loud band that played for a few hours. The Jazzercise team led a Jazz session in the afternoon. There’s a huge kids’ play area. They had a birthday party for the survivors because birthdays are important after you’ve kicked cancer’s ass. There was a magic show. OK, there wasn’t a magic show. But the event was fun and entertaining and I loved it way more than I expected to.
5. The food was way-yummy. Good restaurants sponsor the event.
6. Kids can participate.
7. You get a T-shirt.
8. They bring in a generator to power the sound system that they wouldn’t need if the generator wasn’t so friggin’ loud. But the good thing is that you can hear stuff from anywhere in the area. I feel sorry for people who live near Clack High—sucks to be them.
9. There’s a Survivor Lap. It’s a cool thing. There’s also a lot of well-deserved recognition for caregivers. I love that part.
10. You can find out everything about Relay for Life at the organization’s site.
11. Each team member is supposed to raise approximately $100 each. If you’re worried you won’t be able to do that, don’t. Others will inevitably make up the difference.
12. Please join my team or donate to the American Cancer Society on my team’s page. If you don’t do either? You love cancer. How sick is that, huh?

More later, for sure. For now, thanks bunches!