Pinkfest is Over ~ Inner Tough Girls Wear Purple with Pride!
It's official. October is now over. We can trade our pink for shades of red and green. I am grateful for the money and awareness going in to Breast Cancer research. I am. Truly- but with each passing year, as the awareness grows, I feel companies and even individuals exploit the disease in effort to make themselves look good for 'a cause.' Like the Coca Cola company with Diet Coke for the Cure ~ Really? Because I am pretty sure the artificial crap that goes into Diet Coke plays a big part in disease. Or, like the lady who continually spammed me to buy Avon for 'The Cure'. Let's be honest. There is not too much 'curing' going on. There is too much money to be made from cancer. Let's put some money into Survivorship. Let's put some money into the community where these women live to teach them a new way to cook for themselves and their family. Or to help them physically and mentally heal from the onslaught of a cancer diagnosis. That's where I'm putting my money. . . obviously.
The kick off luncheon for the Inner Tough Girls was a success. It was the equivalent of Christmas for me. Preparing for a big day, getting everything you wished for and more, feeling deep gratitude for everyone around you. Yes, October 30th 2009 is a day to remember. If you haven't seen our new website, you can check out all the Tough Girl happenings at OurLifeAfterCancer.org
I think everyone else felt the same too. There were new faces, familiar faces, tears, smiles and lots of hugging going on! As usual, everyone forgot to take a lot of pictures and the video camera didn't work, but other than that - it came off without a hitch.
I kept remembering the man that approached me when I was having lunch with a friend during treatments. You might remember it too- when the man said to me, " I just want you to know- everything really is going to be alright." I thought he might be proud of me for some odd reason. I felt so grateful to be in the presence of such amazing women. The age range spanned from 17 to 70, all with one thing in common. Cancer had affected their lives in some way.
The best gift of all was the fact that my daughter witnessed such strong women. When I was young, I wanted my parents to be proud of me. When I became a parent, I wanted my children to be proud of me. I have certainly caused many tears as a parent. Groundings, disappointments etc. but on October 30th, I caused a different kind of tears - joyful tears of a daughter who was proud of her mom.
Posted by Angellah at 11/1/2009 5:53 PM 
Categories: Life After Cancer Event,Inner Tough Girl Event
Tags: Living Life After Cancer Inner Tough Girls Annette Leal Mattern Ourlifeaftercancer.org Angella Hamilton Nancy Banner
Categories: Life After Cancer Event,Inner Tough Girl Event
Tags: Living Life After Cancer Inner Tough Girls Annette Leal Mattern Ourlifeaftercancer.org Angella Hamilton Nancy Banner
I am just in awe of what I just read.
I only wish I could have been there to experience this marvelous event with you. As you know, I couldn't get you out of my mind all of that day. Yes, when we are young we want our parents
to be proud, and then it reverses when we have our own children. Let me tell you ...I could not be more proud of you
right now.
Love, Your Mom
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