“Life is all memory,
except for the one present moment that goes by you so quickly, you hardly catch
it going.” --Tennessee
Williams
Dottie, Sue, Kathy and Nora: these are the four women I will
ride on my bicycle for and “with” next weekend, in the 34th Pan Mass Challenge (PMC).
The details of the PMC are kind of cool. The fact that folks who ride the full 188
mile route from the hills of Sturbridge to the dunes of Provincetown will circle their pedals 152,000
times in 48 hours. The fact that 3,000
volunteers will support those of us on the bikes, doing everything from passing
out cold water to fixing a flat tire, bringing to 8,000 people the number of
people who make the PMC happen. The fact
that 230,000 folks will make a financial contribution to the PMC, the largest
athletic fundraiser in the country, all in the mission to find a cure for
cancer. The fact that by next Monday morning, the PMC will be well on its way
to collecting $38 million in gifts for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in
Boston, one-hundred percent of all donations going directly to the cause. The
fact that 5,550 riders from 36 states and eight countries will participate in
this amazing event which since its inception has raised $375 million
dollars.
That’s part of why we ride, why I ride, along with a host of
other reasons. To get in shape. To get
away with wearing skin tight alien looking bike wear, Lycra as a fashion
statement! To keep at bay my middle age
paunch, get up off the couch and do something.
To see beautiful New England scenery at
the wonderful speed of 15 miles per hour. To use human energy alone to go so
far.
Some ride because they had cancer and so they want to show
that their bodies still work and can beat the “big C”. Some ride because their sister has breast
cancer, their father colon cancer, their child brain cancer and they need, they
want, they must do something good in the face of so much bad. Some ride because their faith in God compels
them or their faith in humanity or they have a deep desire to use their one
life to bring a little mercy and kindness into a sometimes hard and even cruel
world.
And so I’ll plant my butt on a hard seat for upwards of
eight, nine, even ten hours next Saturday. I’ll take a chance that my ride day
might be sopping wet or humidly hot, depending on what wacky Bay State
weather might pop up in the next two days.
Most important I will ride in memory of Dottie, Sue, Kathy
and Nora. That’s why I ride.
In years past I rode for all four of them, as they faced
into their disease: ovarian cancer, bladder cancer, cancer of the appendix,
soft tissue cancer. This year they are
all gone, and so this PMC is a memory ride for me. In memory of them.
In celebration of who they were. In grief at what will never
happen for them because they died too soon. In faith that as angels they are
now in the heart of God but will somehow, absolutely, also be with me every
single mile. In determination to carry their memory and their still living
spirits on my bike, so that one day, a future generation won’t have to face
cancer, won’t have to ride to beat cancer either.
In memory. Of a
science teacher who for years inspired hundreds of students in the classroom
and was a great Mom and tender companion and wife. Of a mentor who taught me almost everything I
know about being a good person and a good Christian and a good minister. Of a
cousin who raised four beautiful children and loved her husband so much, who in
less than five decades made God’s world a much better place. Of a middle school
girl who was a fierce Red Sox fan and a loving daughter and big sister, who
touched and changed the heart of the church I serve, the heart of the Universe
too, in her one precious life.
That’s why I ride the PMC. That’s why we ride the PMC. In hope. In service. In memory. See you on the road this weekend!
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