Relay For Life

I am not sure of how much thought i am going to put into blogging, but if you don't try, you'll never know. So here goes nothing. I am going to try to keep track of my thoughts and memories from my runs and hopefully try to motivate others to do something positive at the same time.

I am doing the Relay for Life on friday night in memory of my mother who passed away from cancer almost 24 years ago when I was 11. The only thing I have done in the past to help fight cancer has been to discuss it with friends and others. I decided to do something about it and this is just the beginning. My mother brought 7 amazing and very special children into this world and was always there for us and IS still always there for us. I feel her watching over me and my family each and everyday, and I want to thank her in anyway possible. I try to live each and everyday to the fullest and wake up every morning thinking "Carpe Diem".

I am also doing the RFL in honor of my Aunt Pat and in memory of Dickie Montalbano (Mr. M). Mr M was father to one of my best friends Pete and was always there for us. Pete and I were unseperable growing up and the M's would help us do whatever it was we wanted to do. Mr M helped make me into the man I am today and I hope to be half the family man he was. I lived with the M's a couple of times and will always think of them as my family. Mr M is where my nickname "streak" came from as well as the "useless brigade" that I was vice president of. I remember the day I met the M family like it was yesterday, I was 6 years old and my dad had to go over their house for some soccer business. Pete and I went in his room to play and ever since then we were family. Through all these years, I do not have one bad memory or experience , we all lived life to the fullest.

I also want to do the RFL for all the many people that have fought or are fighting cancer and will think of them as I experience this relay. I have read many blogs of different cancer experiences and remember feeling the same way when my mom was battling cancer. I remember the amazing support we had from the local community of friends and family as me and my siblings all had to deal with losing our mother. My brothers and sisters have been there for each other and not sure what would of happened had there not been 7 of us.