Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure 2011

Thursday morning, we hopped on the train bound for D.C.  The All-Crew Meeting was held here again...

Thursday night, we stayed at the Hotel Rouge, just like last year.  The view from the seventh floor looked like this...

Even though I love living in the country, I have an appreciation for the city. Amongst all the rushing, angry people, you can always find kind souls and beautiful architecture.   At the metro, we made friends with a couple of 3-Dayers who were also staying at the Rouge.  Shortly after arriving at the hotel, we called them and met for dinner.  Feeling like kindred souls, we walked the streets and did some sight-seeing, also known as "we got lost".

I had a long, tiring weekend, camping in the mud and waking before the crack of dawn, my muscles ache and I'm exhausted, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.  Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure is something I look forward to every year, eagerness courses through my veins.  The excitement never goes away and while I don't know that I'll ever walk it again, thanks to the blisters I get after 5 or 6 miles (even though I toy with the idea from time to time) - I will Crew.

We took the lemons we were dealt and made lemonade.  I was thankful for the rain pants and muck boots I packed at the last minute on Thursday morning, they were worth their weight in gold!  I put away my camera for the rest of the weekend, wishing I'd brought my "big" camera instead.  The sights were all pleasantly familiar and I was happy to be living amid the world of pink.  This year, I was part of the awesome Food Services team where I made new friends, exchanged info and made plans for next year.  I thoroughly enjoyed my dreary, dismal weekend of rain.  The sun shown through, we laughed and joked, we had the best of times.

I was thrilled to see some "new" friends from last year.  Since mom and I weren't on the same team, I planned on joining Mr. J for breakfast every morning, but due to a wedding, they weren't able to be there this year.  They were at closing ceremonies, which was good enough for me.  And we planned to meet for dinner and catch up.  For real this time.

Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure is about finding a cure for breast cancer, but it's also about camaraderie, friends who become family, people supporting one another in love.  Everyone uniting for a cause, everyone sharing pain and adoration, tears and smiles.  No one wants to see others suffer, so we weather the storm together.  A love for fellow mankind.  1 Thessalonians 3:12 reads, "May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else..."  Love is definitely abundant at the 3-Day.

While reading the introduction to 1 Thessalonians, I found this..."In the third century, St. Cyprian wrote to a friend named Donatus:  This seems a cheerful world, Donatus, when I view it from this fair garden under the shadow of these vines.  But if I climbed some great mountain and looked out over the wide lands, you know very well what I would see; brigands on the high road, pirates on the seas, in the amphitheaters men murdered to please the applauding crowds, under all roofs misery and selfishness.  It really is a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world.

Yet, in the midst of it, I have found a quiet and holy people.  They have discovered a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of this sinful life.  They are despised and persecuted, but they care not.  They have overcome the world..."

While it's not exactly a quiet place ~in fact, it's extremely loud~ the 3-Day for the Cure is full of love and kindness.  And I was ecstatic and honored to have spent my weekend there.