The >cancer Wilderness Warriors Hike Against Cancer is THIS Saturday!!
We had to get our >cancer shirts ready so we could all match! We also painted lanterns (mason jars) which we'll light with tea lights in the evening after the hike, in honor of everyone and everything on our >cancer post.
Of course, you can't get any amount of the CFLC together without a lot of laughing and wine. This time, unfortunately, also included a lot of bees, as well as pregnant ladies with spray paint fumes. [Note: the prolific ones did not have wine. They actually had nothing, because we didn't plan for them. What do you drink when you can't have wine?]
Since a few of our number couldn't be there, we decorated their shirts and lanterns for them. We tried our best to decorate them with things they'd love and represent them well. So, for example, Kelsie's shirt was spray painted green "because she likes frogs." Emily's lantern has an abstract bookshelf, whatever that is. But we're sure she'll like it. Joan's shirt got the first of the awesome Wilderness Warriors logo that Vicky designed with a bleach pen, so she's got those bragging rights. And Candace's lantern has clean and straight lines and is bright and colorful, because she's that way.
It was fun designing these things for the girls we've grown close to over the months of preparing for this hike. At the start, we just liked watching movies together. Now, we've grown into "those friends" that you call at all hours of the night if you need to. We come and clean each other's houses when life just gets too busy. We share the fun and not-so-fun stuff in our lives because we've proven trustworthy to each other. This Saturday is going to be a momentous occasion in our lives, as we take time to remember those we love whom we've lost to cancer, and celebrate the step we're taking to help rid the world of cancer. It will be bittersweet and beautiful. But of course, the Wilderness Warriors won't stop here. We've got 3 more babies coming! And of course, it takes a village to raise them. Good thing we've got the Tribe Builder.
Scroll down to see some picture from our painting shenanigans, but first we wanted to share this poem:
Women on Fire, Women inspire, together we are wise,
Our reality occurs to us daily; our hearts are soft, our will is strong,
Our true value is yet unknown even to ourselves.
It’s time to recognize we are all one, mothers of a new world;
Here to love not fear, our kindness will kindle a future of hope.
We need a realization that we can forgive, the past is past,
Surely we are responsible for what happens next?
Let make sure it is inclusive, embracing, collaborative, enriching,
Abandon now the competitiveness between sisters,
Instruct a new paradigm, a stand for integrity, a wholeness that brings joy,
Not born of yesterday, but seeded with our hearts and wombs.
A new blueprint for life and work, for families, for parenting, for abundance,
Breeding a society that serves all, dependants and workers alike,
Humanity for humanity, fair for all and love for everyone.
Written by Pauline Crawford 23.04.2011 for Women on Fire
