The One in Which I Tell Y'all About the Relay for Life in Livermore

Team picture (actually at the end of the event) Theme: pajamas! Mine say: "Lazy Days, Ninja Nights" Rawwr!

Livermore Relay for Life, 2015

A few months back, Kate Gazzuolo (part of our SKW family) sent me an email asking if I was interested in joining their Relay for Life team benefiting the American Cancer Society this year. They've been doing it for about 5 years  - her immediate family and several members of the Steven Kent Winery Family. She totally understood if I was not up to it, but they wanted me to know that they had changed the team name in my honor from "Wine Girls" to "June's Wine Girl Ninja Warriors". (Have I mentioned how much the Steven Kent Winery Family ROCKS?  Probably not enough! Well, they ROCK!) I told her that I would love to join the team, raise some money, and play it by ear about how much I could actually walk on that day. Done deal! 

  

Katie Gazzuolo - Our Team Captain, and Cindy Turchino - Tasting Room Manager & Professional Pirate

I set up my page on the American Cancer Society website and solicited donations - and once again, family and friends - June's Warriors - humbled me with their generosity and support. <grabs tissues> [note to self: buy stock in Kleenex] Big Ninja Warrior kisses & hugs!!!

I had never participated in a Relay for Life event (I know many of those Warriors out there have - so forgive me if I bore you by describing some of the details - at least for this one.). The first thing I did was check in. If you are a Survivor (Yay, me!), you got a stick with a sign saying how long you've been a survivor. The two survivors in front of me said with confidence "37 years"...then "40 years". When it was my turn, the young girl who was volunteering to write on the signs looked expectantly at me. "um...9 months." She paused a moment, looked at the adult seated next to her for guidance - who sweetly just gave her a reassuring nod, a signal as if to say: "Well, write that down, honey!" I thought I was going to win a prize for being the least amount of time as I looked at the Survivor Signs around me, but then the beautiful Linda Santos and Sandy Casey showed up. Her sign said, "8 months". Dammit! I don't even win THAT prize? Well, as it turned out, neither of us would have won that prize (Kiddies -I'm totally making this up. There is NO prize for that distinction. I have to be honest.  I just don't want you to be bitterly disappointed if you ever go to one of these events and have just been diagnosed or something.) Anyway, we spotted a man with "7 months" a little later on. But many more inspiring signs with decades of survival!

I love Steven & Sandy's beauty pageant sashes for being Caregivers! At least Sandy has the pageant stance down!

The Relay isn't really a "relay" in the truest sense of the word. At least one person from the team has to be out on the track, walking laps, at all times for the 12 hours, but there's no baton passed or anything. We had some lovely volunteers that came by to help and walk some laps for us - Thank you so much!!! I even had a former student come up in the middle of the night to volunteer! I'm ...really speechless about this. But I could cry some more if I weren't out of tissues....We love you!!! and NEEDED you! 

Especially since some people on our team got involved in an hour or two of playing a "cornhole" game...which apparently means something completely different to most people than it did to me. I always called that game Beanbag Toss (throwing a beanbag into a hole in a board). "Cornhole"? Well...Google that Shit or use your imagination, but that is NOT what I thought that meant. Come on! I know I'm not the only one out there...There were themes for all the laps - which my team captain assured me was not necessary - but I am actually a lover of themes [Let's just say "hokey" has been used in a sentence about me more than once.] and chose ones that I wanted to participate in...especially the Super Hero one. Hello??? Who doesn't want to dress like a super hero? Apparently, 99.9% of the participants. But I wore my Ninja Warrior costume with pride!

That's right! Don't fuck with me, Cancer! 'Cause you don't know who you're dealing with! Ninjas are stealthy like that!

In addition to the funds we raised online, each booth had raffle items and other ways to make money. Our team had this beautiful basket with a wine tasting package of local wineries, as well as a table of used books.

Notice Steven in the background (look for the bald head), "working hard", reading one of the books he found on the table. That's alright. Caregivers deserve breaks for sure! Love you, Schmoopy!  Xoxoxo

The team also had a bunch of karate boards with CANCER written on them for people to karate chop CANCER.

Sharyn Bell, karate chopping Cancer's ass while Katie bravely holds the plank.

The other theme time that I really wanted to be a part of was the Luminarias. People decorate paper bags with names of treasured loved ones that have passed away or people currently Warriors living with Cancer. They light the bags along the track (with glow sticks) at dark and you walk along, reading the names and reflecting on how many people that Cancer has touched.  It's very powerful when you see them all lined up, each representing a father, brother, son, mother, sister, daughter...[You know what, Cancer? You suck! #sorrynotsorry]

Ninja Carol honored me with this luminaria. So sweet! 

 I had ordered my bag online for Jeannie Mullins - I didn't realize that we could decorate our own, so a volunteer did it ahead of time. It's a little sloppy, but Jeannie would understand...she taught 2nd graders, after all!
Thank you to my wonderful team/family for inviting us to be a part of this!
And our little but mighty team raised over $6,608!  The whole event raised: $136,458.98

Disclaimer: Almost all of the photos in this blog post have been stolen downloaded from someone else's Facebook page. Sharyn Bell, the Gazzuolo family, Cindy Turchino... thank you for being such good photographers and recording these precious moments. I have found that, since my diagnosis, I forget to take pictures because it distracts me from being IN THE MOMENT. Maybe it's the cancer. Maybe it's the sense of urgency to be present? Which is kind of the same thing, if I think about it...Whatever. I'm using my #cancercard to justify stealing other people's stuff. k? #freepass

The One in Which I Do Something Ballsy

I've got great news for you all! Are you ready?

I am a Long Term Survivor!*

*Now, before you get all excited and plan a party --- or decide maybe June has gone off the deep end...
Kiddies, I can hear you saying it now: "What the deuce!? How can you say that? You were only diagnosed in September 2014 and you haven't even had your first post-treatment MRI! [This Friday! <scanxiety butterflies!>]  

Have you lost your mind?!"

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! Let's all take a deep breath, and let me explain...

The other day, I started to read this book that my thoughtful mother-in-law, Judy, sent to me....like, RIGHT away when she first heard the news about my situation.  It's called Crazy, Sexy Cancer Survivor, by Kris Carr.  And it looked really good, only I wasn't really feeling up to reading at all at the time. I was more into binge watching t.v. and movies on Netflix. So, it sat on my nightstand for a good long while I watched seasons of Newsroom, Girls, the entire The Tudors series.... Sorry, Judy! Love you! My brain just wasn't up to the task yet.

But in the New Year, one of my goals is to work on healing through the lens of the trifecta: Mind, Body, Spirit (more on that coming soon..) so I thought that this book might be a good place to help me tap into the whole Mind/Spirit part of things. And BAM, within the first couple pages, she had hooked me. She's infectious and positive and ...well, you can check her out online because she's kind of become a Big Deal and an Industry in a sense. Yes, she has things to sell. But don't let your cynicism get the best of you. [FYI: The world doesn't need more cynics.) She's got very important things to say. Go, Kris!

I'll even save you the trouble of googling that shit: Here it is on amazon.com.

One of the first things she says to do in her book is write down (yes, right there in the book - see, I like a girl who isn't afraid to mark up a book, too.) "I am a survivor. A Crazy Sexy Survivor and thriver!" And I did. And it felt good.

But then I got to thinking about this...in the Stage IV GBM community in particular, there's this on-going discussion and longing and quest to find Long Term Survivors, like the kick-ass Cheryl Broyles, whom I've mentioned before. But the term is not clearly defined, as far as I can tell. In other words, "How long is long?"

And then it hit me...if I can declare myself "a survivor", why can't I call myself a Long Term Survivor? As far as I know, I'm not violating any copyright laws. In fact, "long term" sounds suspiciously like one of those squidgy, judgement-call words. Like short or tall, fat or skinny...

You've all seen these e-cards....you get the idea!

I've decided Long Term Survivor is a subjective term, and I aim to do something ballsy. I'm going to claim it.  Long-Term could be months, years, decades...who the hell knows? Who's going to tell me I'm wrong? (I'm betting you don't have the balls to do it. And if you do, I'll just call you a "dick" and not listen to you anyway. Because I am ballsy that way too, my friend.) 

By using that term, I sincerely hope that it doesn't offend any Warriors who've been on the battlefield far longer than I. I honor you. I respect you. I want to BE you.  I have no idea what is in the crystal ball for me, but I do know that if I approach life as if I am a long term survivor, then I am living life as a long term survivor.  That's part of the whole Mind/Spirit Thingy, right? 

So, I ammended that page. Here it is:

And finally, to honor a recently fallen warrior:

Well said, Mr. Scott. Well said.

 _____________________________________________________________________________

P.S. To my son, Aidan: I swear I'll start reading The Grapes of Wrath right after I'm done with Kris Carr's book! I think my brain is ready to re-engage! Xoxoxo