Less than a month separates us from the Greater Fall River Relay for Life at this point. The next ten days will be especially hectic as I try to juggle Walking with Jane’s first board meeting since becoming a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, final preparations for our Pasta Supper Wednesday night at Westport High School, final preparations for the craft/yard sale at the Westport Grange June 3, playing team captain for our Relay team, and the things that go down in the final month of any major undertaking as Greater Fall River Relay for Life chairman.

And all of that is going down as I start trying to figure out how to make the $3 Million Dollar March work, getting my Marathon Walk ducks figured out, and laying the groundwork for our first attempt at the Cure Crawl November 10.

Someone asked me again today how my retirement was going. I laughed. I was retired for a grand total of maybe 25 minutes–the time it took to drive from the retirement party to the Relay for Life last year. All of this gives me something beyond my own grief to focus on.

Not that the grief really goes away. But it serves as a powerful motivator. I want this disease dead so that no one else goes through this emotional roller-coaster. I’ve written about that before–so I won’t recite the awfulness of it here again tonight. This endless pounding on the keyboard instead of talking with my wife really does suck. I like all of you well enough, but on the whole I would rather be rubbing Jane’s feet and watching some crime drama with her than doing any of this.

But I can’t change any of that for me. I can only encourage you to take care of your loved ones, spend as much time as you can with them, and show them that you love them with every action you take. Telling them that is hugely important as well, but making it clear with more than words is even more important.

Last night I thanked all the people who make this organization possible. Tonight I am asking the rest of you–whether this is your first time here or you are a regular visitor–to join us in this fight. There is a whole list of things you can do on our Ways to Help page. Much of that asks for your time rather than your money. We always need people who can write, who can edit, who can offer advice, who can organize.

This month, we especially need people who can walk, who can help man a booth, and who can laugh. June 22-23 is the Greater Fall River Relay for Life. If you can join us for even a couple of hours that night I can promise you a potentially life-changing experience–whether you walk with our team

or someone else’s.

I’m also recruiting people to do the Marathon Walk on September 9. I’d like to field a Walking with Jane team this year but I can only do that if we have enough walkers that I think we can get to $10,000 on our own. Give it some thought and drop me a line if you want to give all–or part–of the walk a try. Ten people would be enough, I think.

We will need people for other things as well. That is tomorrow’s subject.