Thursday, May 31, 2012

Walk 5/28- I walk in your name

For this walk I asked my mom to chose who/what I should walk for and how I should proceed on my walk.  She decided that I should walk in memory of my friend Jake who passed away from melanoma almost exactly six years ago.  I wasn't surprised that she chose for me to walk in his memory because it was a great loss for both of us.  For me it was losing a friend that I had grown up with and for her it was the loss of a child she had watched grow up only to have his life cut short.  

When I asked my mom how I should proceed on my walk she gave me the directives to take a cup of coffee with me (as Jake was never without it), and to spend my walk thinking only of memories of Jake.  She also gave me the specific direction to only think of happy memories of Jake.  That part of the task proved to be harder than I had anticipated due to the amount of memories that I have near the end of Jake's life that are less than pleasant, as any one who has watched someone die from cancer will know.  Instead I forced myself to think about earlier memories of watching Power Rangers, and high school memories of leaving campus for lunch with our large group of friends. 

Personally I was relieved that my mom did not suggest that I try to raise awareness about skin cancer because, although I am very vigilante about reminding people to wear sunscreen and I will remind people the dangers of tanning, I feel that most people here in the desert are already aware of the risks.  I felt that I wouldn't make much of an impact on other people but by thinking about Jake and my memories of him I was helping prolong the impact that his life had on me.  I felt like he would try to do the same if our destinies had been reversed. 



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