October is breast cancer awareness month. An enormous increase in pink everywhere is encouraging. Almost everyone has been affected, in one way or another, by cancer……with a large portion of that being breast cancer. My grandma passed away from breast cancer and several years later, my mom was diagnosed with the same invader. My mom caught her cancer early, thanks to her home self-checks, so the doctors were able to remove the cancer with surgery and radiation. This is a great reminder for all of us to always do your self-checks because it could be the difference between surgery and chemotherapy or life and death.
People everywhere show their support and awareness for this deadly disease that strikes down the great women of this world. From the NFL to your local football players and the MLB to all the baseball players you will find at around your town. We went to 2 different Pink Out games during October.
Pink Out Football in Harleton
Harleton put together a tailgating party in conjunction with Pink Out night. It was the neatest thing!! There were all kinds of awnings set up with locals that cooked and provided food!! There was BBQ sandwiches, nachos, jumbalaya, chili, tacos, water, cupcakes, and cotton candy.
These were just the awnings I saw before the sky opened up and poured rain!! I don’t know how but we all managed to squeeze in together under the covered section. When the rain didn’t end, they opened the school so everyone could go inside and sit down in the food court to enjoy the tailgating food before the game. We decided to stand and eat in the hallway and then we all hung out waiting for the rain to subside.
Sadly, you cannot see the complete Pink Out because most of us put on coats or sweatshirts after getting soaked with rain!
The rains seemed like it would never end. So…..I took one for the team. I pulled my hoodie up and ran to the truck so I could drive back to get Kym, Linda, and Makenna. It seemed like I ran for 3 miles, but it was more like 100 yards. Same thing!! I get to the truck and stood there, stunned, in the pouring rain for about 15 seconds trying to figure out to get inside. The truck was parked straddling a ditch that was so full of water that it had a current!! After running 14 miles, I then had to do the long jump to get to the other side of the river. I unlocked the truck and stretched as far as could, gripping the door and clinging, with my toes like a ninja, to the door area that we generally step over to get in our vehicles. Only problem was that I could only get one leg on the truck and I have skipped a few arm days at the gym. Well…..most of them. OK!!! I skipped ALL arm days!! So, my ability to pull myself into the truck, in the pouring rain, with only one foot on the door area, while keeping the other foot just on the other side of the river is almost impossible. I am happy to report that I did make it into the vehicle. However, I was unable to save the anchor foot from the river. I drug it through the river on the way to the truck. UGH. Wet socks are so gross.
Back on track and ready to watch some football!! Luckily the rain stopped just in time for the game……but that didn’t last. It started to rain again so all 3 of us huddled under 2 umbrellas. Not those oversized umbrellas. No. Normal umbrellas!! We stuck Kim in the middle and covered ourselves with a blanket to ward off the rain hitting us where the umbrellas didn’t cover!!
I wouldn’t trade these memories for anything!! This journey is amazing, even when everything doesn’t go quite as planned.
Pink Out Baseball
Pink out continued with my nephew’s baseball games.
The sun was shining and even though the day started out a little chilly, it warmed up to a perfect temperature for the game. It would have been more perfect if I hadn’t slathered on 2 pair of pants because I expected the cool weather to continue. By the time the game started, it was warm enough that I would have been comfortable in shorts. Ugh. Texas weather, right?!?!
Caiden is an awesome ball player and I always enjoy watching him play. He is incredibly athletic and do just about anything.
Caiden and Kynlee after the game. I love these 2 beautiful babies. When Caiden’s 1st game was over, he hung out with all of us and ate some snacks. Kynlee is a mover…..she NEVER slows down so you really have to lace your shoes up and get ready to run.
The Pink Out journey is one that a lot of our loved ones will not have the opportunity to experience because of the horrid disease that has us all dressing in pink every October. The beautiful pink colors that we wear don’t convey the seriousness of the disease or how the mention of it can crumble your world. Breast cancer has a devastating effect on the women who are diagnosed and their families. Wearing pink in October and going to Pink Out events will not get rid of the disease, but hopefully it will remind us all to do the monthly self-checks, get our yearly mammogram, and try to take care of ourselves to reduce our risk. My family has been touched by this disease several times and it never gets easier to deal with.
Never forget to enjoy the scenery along the journey.
