We celebrate victory

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Especially that last bit. Happy 4th of July, you Americans! And the rest of you too. In honor of the birthday of our country, I fired my guns and cannon, swathed the dog in a flag, and scared the crap out of a bunch of snowy plovers. Then I woke up, it was 6 am, and we're off to the races.

We are leaving on Tuesday for the United Kingdom, going to hang with the Beatles in Liverpool, then och to Edinburg and Glasgow, maybe St. Andrews or Carnoustie, begorra, and Mac will not be there shooting 78, fer crying out loud Mac shoot em up cowboy. Then on to Northern Ireland and Ireland. I will drive on the left and eat my shepherd's pie, and my English/Irish genes will jump around at the sight of so much of my genery. We will make craics, craicing each other up, until we can craic nae more.

Dana has spent a lot of time getting this whole trip arranged, and took over getting cars from me because she had the options on where we were staying and knew where we needed the car. Fine. She is a master trip planner, and can almost translate the English people speak when you call Avis Ireland and talk to a girl in the Phillipines about your rental. We will be back August 5th, but I will be checking email from some internet cafe/bar/pub in some little town, drinking Irish coffee and listening to the locals jamming with mandolins and guitars and voices.

I have been doing almost daily walks of about 2 miles +/- with the dog, and I did a 3.6 mile training walk yesterday, starting with a mile straight up Islay Hill, and my hip was only mildly complaining the whole time, so fine, I can live with that. That 3.6 miles was 9000 steps, and I figure the half-marathon at 34,000 steps, so only another 25,000 steps. I have until Nov.7, about 18 weeks, so if I add a half-mile a week to the longest sessions, I will be ready.


Bob Clouse, second from left, is a warrior we honor;
died at age 42 of blood cancer 25 years ago

The donations to the LLS from my generous friends and family are rolling in; if you lost the link it is http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/sbhalf09/jfioressjf. Dana has decided to join the TNT team again and train with me, so I will have someone that goes at my pace. I would give you her site for fundraising but it is not up yet. Since she is nicer and prettier than me, you might hold off on making a donation so you can donate to her. I did send my donation request email to our contact list, with my 50 contacts and her 300 contacts, but she was not fundraising at the time.

Funny what can happen when you Google yourself, to see what is out there. A year ago Mikey got a donation from Darren who lived on Barstow and was one of the hood when we were kids. I meant to get in touch with him then, but the gall bladder hit the fan and I lost the idea while I looked for some bone marrow. Now, I get a donation from Darren from my youth, so I sent him my phone (not realizing I had his on the donation form), and he calls me up. He had Googled himself a year earlier, and out popped this post http://johnsleukemia.blogspot.com/2005/02/platelet-demonstration.html . Naturally enough he wondered what the heck this was, realized it was me, and when I talked to him he said 'I could see we had a man down and he needed help.' If everyone had that attitude, this world would be so much easier. Thanks Darren. And thanks to everyone that has donated to save lives.


Gathered in the mist,
their breath mingled with the
cool fog,
the runners and walkers stretched,
tried to heat up cold muscles,
checked their gear and headed out.
They run for other lives,
for lives they knew or know or don't know,
for the afflicted,
for a sense they can do something,
for those that come next,
for the guilt they feel for being healthy,
for the why and why not.
They carry the warrior's names
as badges of honor,
as prods, to say
'Look what she went through,
I can carry some pain for that person.'
One step leads to the next,
like life,
until it is done and
they celebrate a victory.

Speaking of poemery, check Mo's comment/poem on the last post. Awesome.