first snow
It was a dark and stormy night ... which is how all important events in my life go. My birthday, my wedding and now the first Robert's Snow event of 2005. After months of planning and an exhausting day of hanging last minute snowflakes, putting together goodies bags (really nice ones, I must add), prepping food, and organizing books...it rained. And it rained hard. The wind howled and the temperature sank...just like our expectations. Who would come out on a night like this?
But they came. Amazingly. And a lot of them. All of them were dripping, some of them blown in by the wind with their umbrellas reversed. One artist had driven 2 hours to come. An enthusiastic couple came from CT and had made hotel reservations just for it. One friend came on a bus from NYC that morning. Another brought chocolate pastries. All for the snowflakes.This project has been a rollercoaster for me. Most people who start fundraisers are people who already have money, people who have families close by, people who have already beaten the disease, or celebrities. They are not unknown newly-wed wives that rack up credit card debts and let their husband go to chemo treatments alone.
But we, Robert and I, believed so strongly in this project that we pursued it. When a doctor says , "no cure" to you, it makes you a little crazy. Crazy enough to attempt something like this. But it's not without regrets. The project has become so close to me that any criticsm flicks me in the raw. Instead of making me have a thicker skin, this project has skinned me. But seeing people come to the show in the midst of flood warnings, downed trees and telephone lines is like being wrapped in a warm hug. Suddenly, things are starting to focus and I'm realizing the work that I am doing does matter. And I'm not in it alone. Friends have become family and strangers have become friends. People care...and they care a lot. Robert's Snow is going to do something. And it's going to be worth it.
"Snow is like kindness. It beautifies everything it covers." -Anonymous
posted by Grace Lin at 9:06 PM
1 Comments:
It has skinned you...oh, that is so powerful. Isn't it interesting that it has skinned you, yet you know it's something you are supposed to be doing, you were meant to do?
You are right, people do care. So many people care! This whole cancer experience shows us so much about love and life that we never would know otherwise. I was afraid of cancer all my life, never ever thought to go into the medical field because pain and disease overwhelmed me. Now I'm leading a support group, developing a website, researching medical articles...and I'm loving it. This is LIFE. It's scary and it's hard, but it's LIFE all right. :-)
So glad to hear the event went well. It rained on my wedding day too. And I got bone cancer! Umm, let's not tell other people about this. They might get scared. ;-)
Let us know how we can support you. We are other patients of course, so most of us don't have money either and we have limitations. But we'd love to support you in your efforts!
Mary
http://abc-survivors.net
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