A few parting words

I'm currently sitting at Huntsville International Airport (HSV) and waiting for my flight.  And, when I say "sitting" I mean I'm on the floor because, apparently eventhough NASA has a facility five minutes down the road, NOBODY here ever needs to plug in their personal electronic device while they're waiting for their flight.  

Now, given that this place sees actual ROCKET SCIENTISTS pass through here, you'd think they would put a tad more thought into the needs of their clientele...

My brief time in Alabama was nice.  The people I met were wonderful for the most part and, while I'd love to make snarky comments about mullets or inbreeding or crackers or, well, you get the idea, I'm going to refrain.

Instead, I'm going to try and say nice things about people today.

This is not going to be easy at times...

Let's see, where do I start...

How bout Don Hayworth. Great guy, I had a great time on tour with him.  We had never met each other, but by the end he kept asking me if I'd stay for one more day, lol.  I think he was afraid the young guys might overthrow him...

Chuck Goins came back for more.  I don't remember if I sang his praises in August when we spent two weeks running around Illinois together or not.  If I didn't, shame on me.  In addition to the fact that six or seven more people confused us with each other again this time, he's another great guy.  And an outstanding hugger.  Better than me.  Chuck, I mean it, you and one of your sweeties make it up to Chicago, call me, we're going out!

Denver Bierstedt always makes me laugh.  He's a big guy, 240 pounds, and at least 90% of that is heart.  He's got more energy than anyone I've ever known.  Quick example, yesterday as several of us were walking to a gas station, Denver ran through us all like a slalom skier.  All I could do was shake my head and laugh.

Mike Dumas came all the way from the UK.  Mike learned about the tour online and decided he wanted to try and bring it over to the United Kingdom.  He picked it up pretty quickly and, even more impressively, manage to NOT pick up a Texas accent despite being around four different Texans in his time on tour.

Speaking of Texans, Gary Cochran came on board a few days ago, his fourth year.  I didn't get much opportunity to talk with or work with Gary, but he had a lot of fun with us.  Dave speaks pretty highly of him, that's good enough for me.

And Texas can't be mentioned without bringing up the favorite daughter of South Texas; Vickkkki Maddox.  Vickkkki is still on tour, still running the retail like nobody else can, still the butt of numerous jokes and still a lot of fun to be around.  She rode the bus with me quite a bit and I learned more about people I've never known and will never meet than you can imagine.  It reminded me of when Ellie would call me to tell me about someone she knew 60 years ago.  

Finally, Dave, I love you buddy.  You're a large part of why I keep going out on the road, driving around random parts of the country, hugging strange women.  Well, the fact the Captain encourages me to hug strange women helps, but, you know.  You're attempting a great thing and I'm proud to be a part of it.

Wheels up in 30 minutes, I'm going to try and find lunch...

Pink Heals!

Peace

Life (and our event, almost) is a beach

If pictures truly are worth a thousand words, this sucker will give you about 7,364 of those bad boys.

So let's fire up this travelogue and I'll show you our day.

Pictures like this are one of Dave's favorites.  People tend to forget the fact that we have huge expenses.  Even though we often tell people we sell shirts to keep the trucks on the road, most don't give it a second thought.  This picture is pretty typical of one of our fuel stops.  

Next time you grumble about how expensive fuel is, think about filling these girls up.  This is why we sell t-shirts.  So we can move the fleet down the road to the next town to try and set up a program to take care of the people in that town.

Now, as we make our way across America, we're not robots.  Nor do we have easy access to, ahhh, "facilities" in our vehicles, so we have to hit the rest stops from time-to-time.  

We made a pit stop this morning between Gainesville and Destin and I saw this sign...

And I couldn't stop giggling wondering how many men stand there waiting for, ummm, assistance.  And how many of those men actual pee their pants because, you know, it says "Hands Free".  

I'm a twelve year-old, I admit it.

So when we pulled in to Destin and into our venue (a really stellar looking property btw) I knew we were in a resort/retirement area when I got a sighting of the rarest of combinations...

Knee-high black socks, shorts and...

Wait for it...

Wait for it...

Wait for it...  

Crocs!  That's right, if you look closely, the gentleman on the left has Crocs on.  I apologize for the picture btw, we were stopped in the parking lot, waiting for it to clear and I saw him coming my way.  When he was closest to me, a mini van pulled past (another reason to HATE mini vans) and by the time it cleared I had to take this shot in my mirror.  Hey this ain't as easy as it looks folks, let me tell you.

This venue also got high marks in my book because in my three years on tour, this is the closest we have ever parked to a Pacific northwest based, coffee-based beverage, super, mega global company (still waiting for a commercial endorsement and if they ain't offering, I ain't using their name in this fine intellectual property.

Good Christ, I just realized that I've used "ain't" three times in the last two paragraphs.  

Sigh.  

I've been down here too long.

Now then, on to business.  This is Carolyn.   She has Ewing's Sarcoma.  It's the second most common tumor of the bone.  This little doll came walking up to us with her parents and her two older brothers.  I gave them brochures and then asked if she was fighting.  That's when Mom told me what she had and I asked Carolyn if I could give her a hug.  We all lined up and took many pictures with her.  Check the PHT facebook page for videos with Carolyn and her parents.  Really special people and a great little girl.

These are the shirts the whole family was wearing today, in support of little Miss Carolyn.  Also, she's got a facebook page here and I highly encourage you to visit and "like" it too.  Mom mentions in one of our videos, that no new pediatric chemo drugs have been developed for 23 years.  2frickin'3 YEARS!!!  My friends, in my country that is what we call bullshit.  

Oh wait, this IS my country and it happens ALL THE TIME!!! 

So, long story a little less long, support this little doll and her family. 

Here's another little nugget for you.  Today, Leslie signed Leslie!  A 17 year survivor named Leslie signed our Leslie!  As we walked back to the bus (Leslie was parked in a remote lot) human Leslie (clarity alert) told me that she had no healthcare insurance.  because she was a survivor, her pre-existing condition meant insurance would cost her $768.00 per month.  That's right per month.  A little quick math tells me that equals $9216.00 per year.  

For health insurance.

Today.

In America.

Land of the free, home of the brave.

You know the place.

But wait!  There's more!

She said she checked into what her costs would be through Obamacare.

Obamacare.  You know, the latest thing that's going to ruin America and everyone that lives here.  

Turns out her insurance will cost her $110.00 per month through Obamacare.  January 1, 2014 she will once again have health insurance.  Good for you Leslie (the human one)!

See, here's the thing.  I said it last week and I still mean it.  This isn't about political parties, it's not about race, ethnicity, gender, labor, management, it's not about any of the things that DIVIDE us, it's about the things that UNITE us!  It's about taking care of those that can't take care of themselves. 

I am my brothers keeper, right?  Don't worry, I haven't been down here so long I'm gonna go all bible-thumper on you.  

OK, in closing (sort of) we sat down to dinner at a really beautiful Mexican restaurant right on the Bay of Whatever It Is here.  That's not really it's name.  Although there are more odd names here than anywhere.  

Except maybe Wisconsin.

And as we waited for our food, Rita, Jake and their son (I'm blanking on his name) came over to say hi.  Jake had seen us and checked us out online before he brought Rita by.  Here she's telling us her story...

As it turns out, before her diagnosis, Rita was a successful sales rep.

For a major pharmaceutical company.  

She sold chemo drugs.  She was very good at her job, making a six figure income.

She now has Bone and Brain cancer.  

She also has a very strong faith and believes that will get her through.  She's a pretty amazing woman with a great family.  I'll keep her in my thoughts.

I hope you do too.  

Pink Heals!

Peace

Midnight.

It's midnight as I write this. Consequently, this isn't going to be a terribly long post.  I've thought about what I wanted to write over the course of the day, even put a couple notes in here to remind me, but still...

I'm tired. 

Up at 5:30, on the road at 7:30, our first home visit was at 8:30 with one more around 9:30 or so. 

Donna and Carol were both surprise visits and both went really well.

From there we went to Colonial Townpark, an open air shopping center, a really nice one, btw, and set up there for the day. We ended up starting at noon instead of 5:00 like the original thought. 

Around 1:00 I realized no one was dressed up so I thought I'd put the gear on since I hadn't worn it for a few days. Five hours later, I must admit, it felt good to get out of it. My clothes were saturated. It takes a lot out of you, even if the gear we wear isn't as thick or as heavy as normal gear, it's still warm. I kept myself hydrated and I did fine. Besides, there must have been two dozen or more survivors that I got to hug today. 

When people; survivors, their families or really anyone that comes to see us asks us what it's like on tour I've started telling them-

"I get to hug random women all over the country and my wife encourages it. Are you kidding me? This is the best job EVER!"

It gets a laugh of course, but there's an element of truth to it too. It's incredibly gratifying to hug a woman that is kicking cancer's butt. And the pirate absolutely encourages me to go out on tour. She's awesome. As much as I enjoy being on tour, I miss hanging out with her and I'll be glad to get home

Briefly now, two of my favorites from today. The first, a survivor that was a little bit older than me, Louise, came by with her family. I hugged her and she hugged back. Like she meant it too which I love. Later, after I got out of my gear and replaced my sunglasses with my real glasses, I saw Louise by Don as he was hugging her. Louise' daughter recognized me as I walked up and told Louise I needed another hug. She looked at me for a second and as we hugged I heard her say

"I know you, you're my first guy!"

I almost fell over, I was laughing so hard. 

The other memorable one was Ashton. 

I mean, how can you not love a ballerina?  She was so shy at first, but just as sweet as could be. She got to ride with Josh and Don in the parade we were in tonight. 

There's so much more I'd like to tell you but I've got to get to sleep. 

Up at 5:30 again for 7:00 departure and a 300 mile drive to our next stop. 

That's no typo. 

300

Sigh

G'nite

Pink Heals!

Peace

Bicycle clothing wasn't designed for everyone

I don't know what that stuff is called. But you know what I mean. The spandexy looking style of clothes, emblazoned with more corporate logos than, say, your typical stock car. These form fitting outfits look great on world-class cyclists. But you sir, Mr. Middle-aged insurance agent that currently carries about 45 extra pounds (I'm being generous with that estimate, it's probably more like 65), on you that clothing choice just screams. 

It screams because you have almost literally stretched it to its limits and that's got to hurt. 

While I applaud your effort at becoming more fit (I know, I know) I'm afraid I don't share your enthusiasm as far as your wardrobe choice this morning. I'm eating here fer cryin' out loud. 

I would just like to go on the record with that. 

Here's another thing -

Jay Holt is a quitter. 

That's a term of endearment in the world of Pink Heals touring, btw. While the editor has quashed any further editions of MYPHTD (editors, harrumph) I would like to say a few words about Jay (for some reason it just feels right to say both names together) Holt. 

I met Jay Holt in Bakersfield on the 2011 tour. He was driving Elaine, Dave's mobile office at the time. That was a position of some esteem and, as I watched how things unfolded on my first tour, it was obvious that was an earned position. That first group was full of great guys and we had a lot of fun together, but to my mind Jay Holt was the guy immediately behind Dave in terms of how things ran. He was, and is, a guy that I think about as I do Pink Heals related things to this day.  Kind of a "what would Jay Holt do?" thing.

And I'm sure I'm not the only one. 

Remember buddy, the survivors we meet aren't the only ones whose lives you've changed.  I'm a better person for having met Jay Holt.  Of course I can't quite pull off saying something like that in person because, well, you know, in case you haven't noticed, we sometimes get a tad emotional and then the wheels fall off and next thing you know, well, there you are.

Now then, on to todays event...

My guy, Mike Amedeo, hooked us up with another stellar (an underused word imho) today with a mini parade preceding it.  We ended up at Gator Harley Davidson with a setup similar to yesterday, several local vendors all working toward local fundraising with the money going to local people.  While we were there selling shirts, the two women you see below approached our sales area.  I noticed the do' rag on the head of the woman on the right and asked her if it was just a fashion statement.

She replied "No, it's not" 

I asked if she was a survivor and she hesitated a moment.  Her friend piped up and said "As of today she is!"

She was told today by her doctor that she is now cancer-free!  How cool is that?  She came over to see our event on the day she was told she had beaten cancer!

 We all lined up and hugged her and told her we loved her, it was a really great feeling to be able to share that moment with someone. 

I mentioned Jay Holt (who should be home by this time) earlier, now it's time for me to say a few words about my friend Mike Amedeo...

Great dude.

I mean, I genuinely love the guy.  

Last year we spent 10 days and about 1800 miles together through the Midwest and the Great Plains and even though we "chatted" a couple times over the last year, we really haven't stayed in regular contact.  Mike went to nursing school this year and wasn't able to go on tour, but he was able to put together these two events for us.  

Here, in a nutshell, is the kind of guy he is.  Last year on tour, pretty much anytime we went out for a meal, I drank Arnold Palmers (a lovely concoction of 1/2 lemonade and 1/2 iced tea).  Almost exclusively.  So what was the first thing Mike said to me when we got in to town yesterday?

"I've got a case of Arnold Palmers waiting for you"

How can you not love the guy?

Here, for my closing, is how my night ended.  

A lovely piece of cheesecake with fresh blueberry compote and whipped cream, served up by a local vendor (a retired cop from Colorado that moved out here to be by her sister) with a mobile coffeehouse called "Sweet Brewnette".  

I'm a sucker for a well played pun.

Among other things.

Pink Heals!

Peace    

Poignant - adjective "affecting or moving the emotions" also "today"

We left our trailers and golf carts this morning, heading north to The Villages, a retirement community (in case you were wondering, there are a few of these here in Florida) of 110,000 people (yes, that's right, a community of 110,000 people age 55 or older) in central (I'll make no further comment) Florida (maybe.  There are many juicy tidbits here) for a tour stop set up by my guy, Mike, from last years tour.

But first, on the way north from Sarasota, we had a home visit.  A visit, set up yesterday, to see Ava.  She has Stage 4 renal cancer, but she's a fighter and her family thought a surprise home visit would be meaningful for Ava.

As we pulled up in front of her house, and gathered to walk over and hug her, we got our first glimpse of Ava and saw just about the most adorable little 4 year-old you could imagine.  Wearing a pink dress, with a grin from ear-to-ear we all lined up and one by one, we got down on our knees to hug her and tell her we loved her.  

Ava wanted to see the tour bus, so the guys that were dressed for the stop; Jay, Don and UK Mike escorted her and her family over.

I snapped this shot just a second too late, Jay had extended a hand to Ava to help her off the bus-  

I still like the way it turned out though.  

After the bus, we posed with Ava for some pictures by the statue.  She was a trooper throughout the stop, but she started to get tired.  We could tell because she just plopped down on the grass for a rest.

Not wanting her to feel alone, the boys joined her...

After talking to her Mom, I had a better understanding of why she was tired.

Ava had a kidney removed last Friday.  

Last Friday.

As in, six days ago, that last Friday.

If it was me, I'd be curled up in bed, whining for more of this or less of that or both.  No-one would want to be within 500 yards of me, I'm fairly certain.  And this four year-old sweetheart was outside checking us out and posing for pictures like it was no big deal.  

This kid blew my mind.  

I wish nothing but goodness and light for Ava and her family.  Please join me in that.

We made it in to our stop with Mike and had one of the better police escorts, certainly one of the longest.  He set up a really nice event for us today too.  Would have been nice if there had been a bigger turnout, but the seniors were probably busy doing other things.  Check CNN's archives for a recent article about The Villages and I think you'll find reference to the highest incidence of STD's in the nation.  

I always wondered what they meant when they advertise places for "active" seniors...

Pink Heals!

Peace

Trailer sweet trailer

I mentioned earlier something about "my single-wide" or something to that effect.  Well here it is in all it's glory.  

I now know what I'm going to be like as a 75 year-old.  

I live in a trailer and I drive a golf cart around my community.

Yup, that's them!  Mighty fine, don't ya think?  

This place has actually been really nice to us.  They're comping the trailers and golf carts, gave free access to a really nice fitness center and even picked up meals for us today.  They've got free Wifi, but it's not a real strong signal and you're limited to an hour at a time.  Plus during peak times you might not be able to get online right away.  Small deal compared to everything else they've done for us.  Did I mention they did our laundry?  That in itself is huge (see last year's Watertown, SD entry for baseline info) and I, for one, truly appreciate it.  I also appreciated the refrigerator being stocked with Chobani (endorsement opportunities available, I love that stuff!  Just ask the pirate) yogurt, to say nothing of the tortilla chips and queso.  This place has cable tv with two flat screens and a king size bed too.  I'm not ready to put a down payment down or anything like that, quite frankly I don't think there a single or double wide in my future.

Ev. Ar.

But this has been nice.  Check out my living room/kitchen/dining room  

Today was a rare off day and I took full advantage of it.  Actually I got caught up with this.  One this morning and this entry tonight.  So I've got that going for me, which is nice.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow.  We start with a home visit, a four year-old with Stage 4 cancer.  We need to try and bring some light into their day.  And then we meet up with my guy Mike from last year.  Mike set up the next two days of events, so we should be in good shape there. 

Pink Heals!

Peace 

They do more than sell insurance

If you know me, you know I can't resist a cheap joke.  That's a gecko btw...  And they're like squirrels down here.  They're everywhere.

We had some interesting events here in Sarasota yesterday.  That's right, yesterday.  The tech challenged author couldn't figure out wifi issues last night.  Oh well, looks like it's working today, so here goes nuthin.

We had an event at a place called, well, I'm not gonna use the name of the place since the only good thing to come from it was this photo and the accompanying game - 

"How Many Mistakes Can You Spot in This Picture?"

That's the actual poster, btw.  Yup, we're makin' a difference out here, touchin' a lot of lives...

A quick time out from the usual snark, as you may have noticed, this is a couple days late.  We had some Wifi issues here, I alluded to them earlier (yesterday, when I wrote that) and then "somebody" had the wrong start time and I had to drop this and scramble to get ready to head out yesterday morning.  Got back to the trailer park (pictures to follow), had a snack and fell asleep.  For ten hours.  It's 4:30 in the morning as I write this.  

Sigh.  

Yesterday was a pretty cool day.  We stopped by the Moffitt Cancer Center and chatted with some folks coming into and out of the center.  The staff there was great too, very happy to have us.   

Pamela, shown here signing Karen, was an amazing person with a remarkable story.  She was advised to get her affairs in order in May 2012 because her doctor didn't think she would survive the summer.  She was initially diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40.  A vegetarian that worked out regularly and had no family history, she didn't fit any of the profiles.  She lived in NYC at the time and was treated at Sloan-Kettering.  Later when she had a recurrence she was treated at Johns Hopkins.  Now these are well known, top notch cancer hospitals.  And ultimately, they couldn't cure her.  She moved to Florida, and now, with the right care-giver and the right doctor and the right treatment, she's kicking cancer's butt. 

Rich, from the Tampa area chapter set this stop up and he met us at Moffitt.  It was there that Dave told me about Rich's wife, Laura.  

She works at a school out in the suburbs of Tampa, and she's been in and out of school for some time, due to her illness and her treatment.  Laura has colo-rectal cancer.  She's been fighting it for quite a while now.  And she's not about to quit.  Their costs are through the roof between hospital stays, chemo costs, treatment and such.  That's one reason Laura went back to work, she's out of sick time... Just like the other day with Harry and Donna, this story makes my blood boil.  Rich and Laura take their kids on vacations whenever they can because they want them to have as many great memories of family life before cancer destroys it.  

I don't blame them.

Rich told us he gets some sideways looks from people.  Apparently they don't think he should use his money (or money people raise for the family) for that.  Here's the thing; a typical fundraiser generates about enough for one treatment.  They get "grants" from the drug companies.  A quick internet search found four of the top drug companies had profits of $6, $7, $9 and $14 BILLION in 2012.  Awful nice of them to give grants.

Laura told us about Morgan while we were there at the school.  Morgan is in (I think) 5th grade and when she was 5, she was diagnosed with leukemia.  She fought it and beat it, but while she was doing that, she lost her Mom to cancer.  We dragged Morgan and her class out to the parking lot to see and sign the pink fire trucks.

That's Morgan surrounded by the guys, with Laura taking her picture.

The more I do this, the less I understand.

Pink Heals!

Peace

I didn't see a single bug all day. That's some kind of record for Florida, right?

I get why people move down here from cold weather climates, I really do.  Today (without getting the NWS report) was hot and humid.  Pretty easy to work up a good sweat today.  When I was younger I liked cold weather better, but, the older I get, the less I like it.  

I don't think it gets cold here.  

Like, ever.

I mean check out the back drop for our event today in Fort Meyer Beach or Port or Harbor or Shore or something.  I don't remember, it's like Barrington, for cryin out loud, with all the sub-Barringtons, you know?  

But this view?  This ain't Barrington...

Today, we split the trucks.  While everyone else went on home visits, Vickkkkki and I grabbed a local guy and followed an FMFD engine to a couple senior citizen assisted living places and then to a children's hospital.  

At the second senior place, we met Bea and Jim...

Bea is a survivor and Jim, who beat cancer once, years ago, is currently fighting it again.  Bea was a real sweetie, she hung out with me, talking for ten or fifteen minutes.  She told me they used to travel quite a bit, she said she had been to all but eight states and had been to 83 countries.  Bea was a native New Yorker and she's not alone here.  Geez I think I hear more New York or New England accents than I do Southern accents.  Probably by three-to-one.

But occasionally a Chicagoan sneaks in.  As we pulled up to the children's hospital, I saw this Mom and her two kids standing alongside the entrance.  In addition to the older daughter you see here, Mom and her little one in the stroller were all wearing Bears gear.  

Too bad the Bears didn't play up to the level these ladies hoped for.

The ladies signed Leslie in honor of her Aunt from Aurora.  I gave her our website and told her to have the family contact us they'd like us to do a home visit there once we get Leslie home.

After the visits we were treated to lunch at a place owned by a retired fire guy, great food and many TV's.  And then we split again.  This time four of us set up for retail operations while the other three lined up to be a part of the evenings parade downtown.  We sold a bunch of t-shirts and met many great people today.  Got some very emotional hugs from survivors (note to Eddie and Chuck, I'm telling them I'm the best hugger on tour) and just had a real nice day.  

I needed this after getting so jacked up yesterday.  I even talked to Dave about end of tour stuff so we can try to plan on bringing Leslie home.  Captain, if you see this, I'm going to try and call you tomorrow and give you the lowdown...

I think that's all I've got of value for now.  We're off to Sarasota in the morning for who knows what.

No, I mean that.  Who knows what we're doing tomorrow?  Anyone?

Buehler?

Pink Heals!

Peace

I'm pissed off and I don't really care who knows it

I'm going to put the disclaimer out now.  There's a real good chance I'm going to use language I typically don't use.  I've felt many emotions since I've been involved with the Pink Heals Tour, joy, sadness, regret to name a few.

Today, for the first time, I can add anger to the list.

Let me back up a bit.  Today we went to a place called Tradition Square in Port St. Lucie.  They had a parade for us and then on the "town square" there was an open air party with food vendors, a couple different bands and a variety of local vendors.

And, of course, us.

We set up the bus and positioned Karen and Leslie.  

And welcomed a bunch of people.  

As the evening wore on there seemed to be a rush of survivors.  Many not overtly seeking to sign but once I asked and offered, they lit up and relished the opportunity.  I received so many hugs and saw a few tears streaming down cheeks and heard so many "thank you for what you do" comments, it really felt amazing.

And then, I saw Harry, pushing Donna toward me in her wheelchair.  Donna; on oxygen, wearing a hat and far more clothes than you would expect to see someone wearing in central Florida this time of year, rolled up to me and as I leaned over to hug her, thanked me for bringing our trucks to the event.

I introduced myself as I hugged her and when I told her I was from Chicago, she said she took her treatment in Zion, IL.  Zion, in case you don't know, is on Lake Michigan, roughly at the Illinois/Wisconsin border.  

As I straightened up I asked her husband, Harry, what brought them down to Florida.  I thought it was odd that someone as obviously weakened as Donna would travel down here on a vacation.  Harry said

"We live down here."

I'm sure I had a stupid look on my face because he went on to explain

"Donna's insurance sends us up there for treatment.  There are closer places but they either don't use them or we can't get in."

That's right, Donna's health insurance company, a well-known company with a color and a religious symbol and a color and piece of armor in their name sends Donna half-way across the country to treat her cancer.

Is anyone else confused?

Is anyone else upset?

Is anyone else effing outraged?

No?  How bout this...

The insurance company pays Donna's airfare to Zion, IL for treatment (Yaay big insurance company!) but they don't pay Harry's airfare since he's only the caregiver.

That's right, big insurance company apparently feels it's perfect;y normal for a terminal, Stage 4 cancer patient, a woman whose disease has metastasized throughout her body, is perfectly capable of traveling from Florida to Illinois by herself. 

Show of hands, who thinks healthcare in this country doesn't need to change?

Who thinks health insurance companies in this country care about anything other than their own bottom line?  Come on, show of hands again.

Who thinks preexisting conditions should exclude you from insurance?  Because preexisting conditions like cancer would prevent Donna from trying to find a fucking insurance company that actually cares about, you know, human beings and not their shareholders accounts or their CEO's compensation packages.

I'm getting angry all over again typing this.

This is bullshit.

This is insane.

This is criminal.

And it's got to stop.

Think about this story, really think about it.  If you know any elected officials, tell them about this story.  Challenge them to get angry.  Challenge them to fix this.

I'm a lifelong Democrat.  I'm a bleeding-heart liberal.  I'm a proud union member.

This is NOT about Democrats or Republicans.  This is NOT about liberal or conservative.  This is NOT about labor or management.  It's NOT about politics.

This is about PEOPLE! 

Pink Heals!

Peace

WE NEED TO FIX THIS!

I have no clever name for this post

This is how our day started... 

Well, not exactly.

Our day started with a GPS that didn't know the difference between north and south.  We were almost two miles up the interstate when we realized we should've been going DOWN the interstate.  And, of course, the next exit was four mile away :-/  (that, btw, is my new favorite text face. Is that a word?  It should be.  Feel free to use it.  Text face) Fortunately we left early enough that it didn't cause any problems.

Our first event of the day in St. Cloud was the previously mentioned 5k walk/run.  That's where we saw the ladies above.  Believe it or not they didn't even win first place in the costume portion.  It was a well done event, but it was also very touching.  One of the women that organized this event was diagnosed last week with breast cancer.  36 years old.  Husband, four year-old daughter at home, busy career with the local Police Dept.  She chose today, at this event to go public.  We were going to surprise her with flowers.  As we stood behind her, listening to her story, I almost lost it.  I'm not sure what specifically was so touching, but I had no words when I walked up to her and gave her flowers.  You know how often that happens.

At this event, I also learned how many cops it takes to move a barrel of ice and water onto a trailer...

As I watched them dumping about half of the water out, I thought to myself 

"Self, you're gonna want your camera ready, cause this is gonna be good."

It was.  It was also another time I wish I had listened to the captain.  And that's all I'm going to say about that.

So, as I watched the coppers, struggling to move the barrel, it seemed perhaps they should have drained more water out to lighten the load and thereby make it easier to move.  Of course I didn't tell them that.  

Hey they'll never learn if we do everything for them.

This picture kind of captures the moment.  Note the cascade of water from the back of the barrel.  Also, please note the volume of water they already spilled before I took the picture.  Those wacky cops, what won't they try?

It's morning now.  I had to stop last night.  We got to our hotel here in Port St. Lucie (French for Port St. Lucie) around 10:30 and I wanted to try and knock this out before I went to bed. 

Couldn't do it.  This old man's fanny was dragging

Whatevs.

Back to yesterday.

We did some visits at a cancer treatment center and also at a local grade school.  While we were at the school, the Mom and little girl below came up to me.  The Mom told her to tell me about her Grandmother and the little girl said she had died from cancer.  But she said it very softly and shyly so I looked at the Mom for help.  I could see tears welling up in the Mom's eyes as she told me her Mom had passed away three months ago.  Don from Kansas and I both gave her a hug and I handed the little girl my marker and the two of them, Mom spelling and the little one writing in her best penmanship, wrote a tribute to Grandma.

Quick side note - the legs you see sticking out from the engine in the picture above belong to one of our escorts for the last two days, Anthony from SCPD's motorcycle unit.  Anthony and his partner John led us through town for both days, everywhere we went and They. Were. AWESOME.  Excellent at their job and even better people.  When cops and firefighters get together there tends to be a little good-natured bantering back and forth

"Hey where's your donut?"

"Who got you out of the recliner?"

That sort of thing.  Anthony and John took it like champs always with a smile on their face. Great dudes.

Anyway.

I think the last thing I wanted to mention was James.  

St. Cloud put on a Night Out street fair last night and we were one of the attractions.  Placed prominently on the street, we had a lot of people come by.  Dave and Josh went on down to PSL early to do prep for today, so when the fire chief asked for one of us to say a few things, they grabbed a guy you never, ever want to hand a microphone...

Me.

I was nice, no foul language, all grownup words.  Everybody said I did fine.  Sigh of relief. 

Later that night, with a crowd of people around Karen either looking at her or signing her or posing for pictures by her, a little red headed boy of around 8 years old came up to me and asked to sign her.  That's not too unusual.  Kids want to write on the trucks because they think it's cool, or they see adults do it or for any number of reasons, but generally not the right reason.  I couldn't immediately identify an adult with him, so I asked him why he wanted to sign.

"Because my neighbor Betty has cancer.  I want to sign it for her"

The sincerity in James' voice melted my heart instantly.  I asked him if there were any grownups with him and he pointed to a woman a few feet away and said she was his sister.  I told him if she helped him, I thought it would be pretty cool if he signed for Betty.  As they found the right spot for Betty's name, I spoke to the sister's husband and told him I thought that was a pretty special kid.  He said James goes over to Betty's house almost everyday and asks her what chores he can do to help her.  

I graciously excused myself and backed away to regain my composure so I didn't lose it right there.  James really got to me.  A few minutes later when his parents walked over I told James' Dad what he had said to me and complimented them on how impressive their son was. 

And I still felt the emotion there, right under the surface, waiting to turn me into mass of jello.  

The name brand too, not the generic stuff that hardly wiggles when you shake it.

I love this job.

Pink Heals!

Peace

Sunscreen? We don't need no stinkin' sunscreen!

We left the mouse's house behind this morning and headed 20 miles or so away to St. Cloud.  Now, granted, I'm not Catholic.  But I did attend mass regularly for a number of years and I do consider myself to be knowledgeable in a number of arcane fields (not cane fields, arcane fields), but I can't even begin to guess what St. Cloud is the patron saint of.  

Weather would be the obvious choice, but I digress.

We started out by making an appearance at a local grade school where we celebrated 5 women fighting or lost to cancer.  That was a good stop, the kids were great and we had fun with them, but it had potential...  They pulled us onto the grass near an outdoor classroom.  Now these trucks don't weigh as much as regular, working vehicles, but they're still a lot heavier than a car.  We sank into the ground about an inch which was a lot less than I thought we would when we pulled in.  They originally wanted to pull the town's tower ladder in, but we suggested they re-think that plan.  

The remainder of the day was spent at two other schools including the one where this picture was taken -

Here we see Jay Holt chatting with a survivor, charming her with his easy Texas drawl.  It's distinctly different from John Rhyne's Okie or even Vickkkkki's South Texas drawl, but I'm not sure how to describe the differences.  I'll have to work on that.  

After lunch (The Catfish Place, that's right I said the Catfish Place) where we were treated wonderfully (their motto is "we fry everything") and had an awesome meal with more food than we could eat (that's not really their motto) we went to a florist (don't ask, I don't know) where we met Kaitlin.  Kaitlin has retinal blastoma and, consequently, is blind.  But she's sweet as can be and is a very smart, very precocious two year-old.  Kaitlin's Mom is signing for her here-

Leaving the school we went on to a local home improvement store where everything is orange.  You know the place, they're everywhere.  What I want to now is, why can't I buy these at my local place???

$99 bucks marked down from $149!  What the hell?  Oh sure, they'll be long dead by February 1st  in northern Illinois, but they'd look great in the summer.  

Maybe.  

I'd probably kill them either way.

So as we're standing in the parking lot, talking to folks, I see a guy walking towards me wearing an AFFI shirt (Associated fire Fighters of Illinois for the uninitiated) so, of course, I asked him where he was from.

"Chicago" he says "where are you from?"

"Downers Grove" I tell him

"Do you now Jerry ********?" he says

"He's my partner" I tell him "I love that guy"

4 million (slight exaggeration for emphasis) miles from home in a parking lot in St. Cloud Florida and I meet a guy that knows, like, 6 guys I know!

What are the odds?

I don't know.

It was just a figure of speech.

You say "what are the odds" to explain...

Oh never mind.  

Tomorrow we're back in St. Cloud for a 5k run/walk (yes, I know it's a week day. I don't know why, it's not my 5k) and then a home visit or two, I think another school and then a big block party downtown.  After that we drive two hours south to our next town.  Hopefully we'll be at our next hotel by midnight.

Did I mention that it gets a little warm and slightly humid here in central Florida this time of year?  No?  Check the weather channel if you don't believe me.

Life on the road.

Pink Heals!

Peace