My world has been touched too often by the dreaded, awful, CANCER. Whose hasn't. Is it possible that the optimists of the world are right, that treatments for all variations of cancer are, in the grand scheme of things, right around the corner? I don't know. It is true that when I was growing up, a cancer diagnosis felt like a non negotiable death sentence... and yet I have dear friends who are surviving it (using the past tense 'survived' feels wrong, tempting fate). Even those who have left us... it's hard to say this because mostly I just focus on the 'too soon, too f'ing soon' part. But I think I should be grateful that they were with us as long as they were, and I think they were here longer than they would have been 40 years ago.

So, here's to hope. Here's to the science that helped those friends eke out more time with their loved ones, with me, even if it was still way too short. 

And to that end, I have signed up to ride 42 miles uphill, on a bicycle-- it's a fundraiser for Children's Hospital's cancer research work.  I have until mid July to get ready for it.  Sheesh. I need you to donate money so that a) I will be too embarassed to quit; and b) more importantly, we can kick the C-word out to the curb. 

And for those of you kick-ass fundraisers out there (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE), if I raise $500 by the end of May, it will be MATCHED by a generous donor! So dig deep! Thank you.