Blisters Heal. Muscles Recover. Friendships Last.

Happy Birthday Hotties!

WEEKEND RECAP 

As another training walk season winds down, it is amazing to reminisce about the 10 years the Warming Hut Hotties have been walking, crewing, cheering and volunteering in breast cancer fundraising walks. So many memories!

We have participated in over 40 events in Arizona, Seattle, Twin Cities, Denver, San Diego, Boston and San Francisco.  

We have had well over 1,000 people participate on a Warming Hut Hottie Team.

We have cheered events and handed out many cases of baby wipes and strawberries.

We have made tens of thousands of flower pins.

We have shared hundreds of inspirational quotes.

We have proudly worn a thousand deeleeboppers, hottie flags, blinky rings and buttons.

We have walked thousands and thousands and thousands of miles; hills, stairs, paths and trails and explored every nook and cranny in San Francisco by foot!

We traveled together.

And, in those years we have raised well over $3 million for breast cancer.

THREE MILLION DOLLARS! All from individual donations raised over months and years of our personal and group fundraising. That takes my breath away.

I had NO idea on that March morning in 2003, as I ate a banana and waited for people to come to my very the first training walk, that ALL of this would come out of the vision I had for team that welcomed everyone.

We have faced difficult times together: lost beloved friends and family members, faced illness and disease, accidents and tragedies and even had members of our community, and loved ones, diagnosed with cancer. We have shared life's joys, babies, weddings, graduations and milestone moments in each other's lives. We have supported one another through it all.

What I will remember the most are the hugs, wooohooos, the high fives, deep laughter, tears, and countless conversations shared over the many miles of training - strangers becoming friends. Of that, I am most proud.

I mentioned it at the picnic on Sunday, that when I reflect on this community I think of a spiderweb; the threads of a glistening criss-crossing web of friendship that connect us all to one another. Threads of a web that are strong yet flexible and delicate yet supportive. We were brought together by breast cancer and the desire to do something powerful to work toward the ending cancer as a life threatening disease.

This community, forging powerful relationships between women, the life-long friendships and the knowledge that our participation has made a hugely positive impact in our world is our core spirit. It is that core spirit that has grown and sustained this Team for 10 years; not the pink, not the deeleeboopers or the schwag. (Although we do love them!) Those things are just "window dressing" on the deep positivity that fuels this community to be involved and make a difference.

We greet challenges with Positivity. We are possibilitairians. 

We have forged deep, honest and sometimes vulnerable human connections. 

This Team has forever changed the landscape of my heart. I hope you feel it too, because you are an integral part of our 10 years, whether it is your first year or your tenth. Thank you for being a part of this wild, fun, emotional, meaningful, memorable and adventurous journey. 

For all of this, I will be forever grateful. My heart is full.

SHAMELESS SELF PROMO
I created 10 Year Warming Hut Hotties posters, shirts and notecards of 100 of the places our training walks have taken us. BLISTERS HEAL. MUSCLES RECOVER. FRIENDSHIPS LAST. 100% of my sales commission (10% of the purchase price) will go to my fundraising. http://www.zazzle.com/onthecusp*

10% DONATION BY glassybaby SHOPPING IS THRU 9/9!
If you were not able to make the fundraising party, or didn't find the color you wanted, you can shop online at www.glassybaby.com. 10% of your total order will go to our fundraising through September 9th. Use the code "IMPACT" at checkout. Shipping is FREE!

THIS WEEK'S MAP QUOTES 
A certain day became a presence to me;
there it was, confronting me -- a sky, air, light:
a being. And before it started to descend
from the height of noon, it leaned over
and struck my shoulder as if with
the flat of a sword, granting me
honor and a task. The day's blow
rang out, metallic -- or it was I, a bell awakened,
and what I heard was my whole self
saying and singing what it knew: I can.
Denise Levertov, Variation on a Theme by Rilke

We just have to listen to that thing that calls us and simply, bravely, show up. Kelly Rae Roberts, artist

I embrace emerging experience. I participate in discovery. I am a butterfly. I am not a butterfly collector. William Stafford

One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. Helen Keller

UPCOMING TRAINING WALKS
RSVP here: http://groupspaces.com/InOurLifetime/calendar/ 
Sat 9/7 & 9/8: NO WALKS - SF 3 Day Event!
Sat 9/15: 12 Miles - 7:00am - Warming Hut
Sunday 9/16: 12 Miles - 7:00am - Transit Cafe
Saturday 9/22: 10 Miles - 7:00am - The Warming Hut