Over a year ago, while returning from kayaking in Florida, Kim, Laura and I were riding back home in the middle of the night and somewhere between Georgia and South Carolina the silence was broken as Kim blurted out that she wanted to raise some money for the American Cancer Society and the way she wanted us to do it was to paddle a long ways. Laura and I stayed silent. You see, every trip that Kim had ever made to this point was a short one. To her, anything over five miles was absolutely grueling and if you were out on the water more than three or four hours, it was an eternity. So Laura and I kept silent.
About a month later we again found ourselves headed home in the middle of the night from some destination now unremembered and again Kim broke the silence with the same previous comment, only this time she ended the statement with “I am serious”. Now any husband can tell you that when your wife says something off the wall once you can sometimes ignore it, but if she says it twice, and ends the statement with those three words, then you better buckle your seat belt and start packing for the trip.
Laura and I were up to the challenge. I had made several long distance trips before and Laura had all but been begging for something more than five miles and at least longer than the average work day. But this one would top anything I had done before and blow a forty hour work week right out of the water. Kim told us she wanted to paddle over 200 miles and she wanted to get other people to join our team. So a spark was ignited and three flames began to burn but we were a long ways from the wildfire that Kim had envisioned. What we needed was more people that didn’t think our idea was crazy and were willing to leave their cares behind for a week and join us.
The search began and after a many months the call was answered by one then two. Not long after came three and four and before you knew it there were many more. Almost a year from the date when the plan was first hatched, somewhat of a plan was in place and we prepared to assemble our group for the first time to meet and discuss our vision. In the introduction to the plan that I gave to our team, I wrote the following words;
You are about to embark on a very arduous journey. A journey that will test the limits of your physical and mental abilities. You will face uncertainty, and you may even question your faith. Each day will present obstacles that you never imagined you would encounter and you will sometimes struggle to overcome them. You will end the day completely exhausted and labor to your feet to meet the challenge of another.
As you agonize to make it through each day, you will sometimes have to battle alone, but never too far away will be others who are making their own journey suffering the same kinds of pain. You may feel like giving up, but that is when you dig in deep and make a stand. You will reach out to family, friends and complete strangers, for support and words of encouragement. They will be your comfort when you think you have no other.
In the end how hard you fight may not determine if you survive and complete this journey, some things are just out of our hands and must be left to the mercy of a higher power. With all the advances in modern medicine, sometimes the only medicine that works is hope.
Teammates, this is the peril of each person that is diagnosed with cancer. The trials and tribulations we will encounter on the trip we are about to undertake pale in comparison. As we take this journey together, let us never lose sight of why we are making it. We are paddling to celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer. We are paddling to remember loved ones lost. We are paddling to fight back against the disease. We are paddling to give HOPE!
After reading that, they were all hooked and this morning we are putting paddles to the water and taking our first strokes on what will be a journey of remembrance. I hope that you will follow along with us over the next nine days and show your support for what we are doing by sending us words of encouragement, keeping us in your prayers and making a donation to our cause.
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