We're off!

Heather helped me collate and fold and stuff a bunch of the fundraising letters last week and I sent out about 100 one day and 100 the next day before running out of stamps and stickers and so I'm back on hold. BUT the first postcards have come back to me, one two days ago and four yesterday and I have actually started raising money which is a thrill.

I sometimes wonder, before a party, if anyone is going to show up. So it is with this project. I feel out on a thin limb here, making this public statement, exposing myself in this way. Already people are talking to me about their story or the story of someone they know and there is a part of me that feels really unprepared to deal with this aspect of this venture. I am not an expert on cancer and don't want to be. But I do feel that paying attention is a good thing so maybe that, simple as it is, is what I have to say. I can say that with authority. My own authority.

I got my bike tuned up. Can't wait to ride it. Can't wait for all of this. At times I feel like I could explode with excitement. This is very very exciting.

Very.

I've been listening to Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" and in one place he talks about the brick walls being there for a reason. And I agree. I also feel that it is much more possible to get over those brick walls with a team of people. This is one of the lessons from the Outward Bound exercise of climbing over the wall. No one could do that alone. But with help and planning and cleverness and skill and training it does work.

So it is with this ride. I am really not in it alone. It is already much bigger than me. And with two riding partners and two trainers and two sisters and one fabulous bike mechanic and a whole lot of people who are going to be "on my team" this will all come to be.

Life, today, is so very good.