And continuing to be contrary to my list of things to do less of, I was Jody’s walking partner in the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. Their website describes it thusly:

A celebration of survival and a tribute to the lives of loved ones who have been touched by cancer. Twelve hours of fun, friendship and fundraising to beat cancer. Communities from coast to coast, taking up the fight.

You’ll notice they don’t immediately mention the fact that the twelve hours are the twelve hours of night (7PM to 7AM), which makes it contrary to my list. They also don’t mention (understandably) that the weather may be cold, wet and miserable. It’s quite the thing, huddling outside of a tent and under tarps, counting down the hours, knowing that there are many more. Thankfully, the rain broke around 10:30PM, and the rest of the night turned out tolerably, in fact even as advertised… fun.

The 10:30 candlelight tribute was a ring of lit tealights around the track, each associated with somebody to be honored or remembered. It was pretty moving for our group (organized by a cancer survivor), especially as we passed by her name. But the most touching tributes that I passed by were for people that I didn’t know, scrawled in a young hand… “In memory of Mom”. “In memory of Dad (we miss you)”.