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Relay for life 2002

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        [NOTE: Due to the size of the photo files, this story and the pics are posted on an outside server. For these, the Desk is using its subsidiary on tripod/lycos. Some Photos will open in a New Window, close that window to return to the story.]

        The Desk and the USS RAVEN Crew attended the 2002 Relay for Life over a rainy weekend in June.
        In the near constant drizzle, and occasional gusty wind laden with rain, and wet track, and soggy ground, it took some work by the organizers of the event to get the crowd pumped up and moving.


Walkers at the 2002 Relay for Life
Waiting in the Rain for the Relay to start.
        But they did. And shortly after the opening service of the National Anthem, prayers, and some brief remarks by assorted dignitaries and a survivor, things got moving. Or at least the walkers did.

Opening Ceremony, 2002 Relay for Life
Star Spangled Banner in the Rain.
        The Survivor and Caregiver Laps are always an emotional time at the Relay.
        As the Survivors who have come out in the rain to Walk for a Cure their names are read. Then there was a break for some more speechifying, and the Caregivers make a lap. Then the Relay itself steps off with the Parade of Teams.
        Except this year, the RAVEN team wasn't as well represented as it should have been. So when the Parade happened, only two or three of its crew made the lap. The Desk and the Captain were trying to weatherproof the campsite, the RAVEN's Survivor was in a Relay tent to get out of the rain, and... well... some others were simply missing.

Survivor's Lap, 2002 Relay for Life
Survivors Walking in the Rain Against Cancer.
        The Luminary Ceremony is one of the more heart-wrenching parts of the Relay.
        It is also why, Rain or no-rain (which so far has not happened. Last year a Tropical Storm came to the Relay. See write up on 2001 the Desk will be there. It has lost more friends and relatives to Cancer that it can easily count, and now its own wife is fighting it.
        So. Cancer has become part of the way the Desk thinks about its own family. The Desk's Grandfather, both in-laws, an uncle, a friend... and the list goes on and on.
        In the Dark and the Rain the word HOPE was spelled out across a grandstand in the bags lighted with candles. It was a very moving sight. Of course the picture, taken in the rain and light fog, did not come out.

Luminary Memorial at the 2002 Relay for Life
A Luminary in the Rain at the Relay.
        It is a very somber part of the walk.
        The stadium is in near total darkness except for the flickering bags.
        Hundreds of them.
        All the way around the track.

        Of course the Relay is very serious business and raises thousands of dollars for cancer research and support under the umbrella of the American Cancer Society.
        It is heavily organized and promoted and everybody who participates in any capacity does so conveying the solemnity of the event and the disease it is working against......


Mr. Fox, Raven Mascot, at the 2002 Relay for Life
A Fox in the Rain at the Relay.
        Or not.

        There are contests, and dance routines, and organized events, and raffles and give-aways and Rain.

        And. We'll do it. Again. In the Rain if need be.

         Until we don't need to.

         In memory of those the Desk has lost to Cancer:

                    Especially: James Lewis. Edwin and Joan Wahlfeldt. Alan Wahlfeldt. Bob Owens.

Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."
John 11 : 23 - 26

To the American Cancer Society website.
http://www.cancer.org/

To the Relay for Life website.
http://www3.cancer.org/Relay/

Selah

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