Saturday in Toronto

Hello everyone,
Well, it is with a bitter sweet feeling we arrive at the Ex. I am very excited to be walking in Toronto with all of my friends, the energy and it is our homecoming but in another sense I don't want it to end. It has just been such an incredible experience that I will miss having that Canadian adventure each weekend. I look around though and see an AMAZING 5,521 WALKERS and together we have raised an astonishing 17.3 MILLION DOLLARS for Princess Margaret. I know that ending this great adventure in my home of Toronto, with my friends is the only way to end it. I would have it no other way.
We see Karen and Joseph and she has tears in her eyes. They are overwhelmed by what the team decided to do. Joseph however is overwhelmed too, but that is more because he is almost green with the stomach flu. He is not looking well at all and has to go and lie down while the opening ceremonies start. We all wish them well but I didn't think he was going to be able to complete the 35 kms we had to do today.
Once again, we have positioned ourselves perfectly for the start. As the opening ceremonies end and the walk begins I think of Joanne and I have a lump in my throat the size of a beach ball. I know how much she loved this walk and believed in it. I know how much her family misses her because at this moment I am missing my Mom too. So I try to concentrate on the new route which has us going along the boardwalk first. The organizers have basically reversed the route for us and we are only one km into it and already the team loves it. There is so much more room to spread out and a walk along the beach on a beautiful bright Saturday morning is good for the soul. I let the laughter and chatter of my friends wash over me and I know that Joanne and my Mom will be with me this weekend. Just like they have been and I will lean on them when I have to. So our strategy has now evolved from where we should stand at the start to how to manage bathroom breaks too. Since I am the "camel" of the group this is not a problem for me, however, being the camel can also mean you become the "pack mule" for the rest of them. As they go off bounding towards those little green prisons they call port-o-potties I offer to carry their fanny packs for them and I will keep on walking and they will catch up. Well, it seemed like a good plan until I realized at one point I had six fanny packs to hold and each one of them had one or two full water bottles. I was beginning to question the wisdom of the offer. So as I walked by myself for a while, receiving a couple of strange looks as to why this women is walking by herself with seven fanny packs that she can not possible manage for 35 kms and water bottles are falling out all over the place, my friends catch up with me while laughing at me at the same time. I will definitely re-think this before the next stop 2kms away.
This year we have three "newbies" on the team. Patti, Wanda and Mike. Now I think in the past I may have mentioned that the people who make up this team are all type "A" personalities...some are double "A" and some are triple "A"...lucky for me I am not a type "A" personality so I am able to get along with all of them. Now Patti, has a very slight advantage over Wanda and Mike because she has lived with a Triple A personality all of her life...her sister Debbie who has been on the team from the very start. Now some of us have known Patti before the walk but for the most part she is a "newbie" but a well informed one. Wanda however did not have that advantage. She knew of only one person on the team before this weekend and I am sure that she had moments on the weekend where she thought "what the heck of I gotten myself into here?"...these people are a boisterous, laughing, strong willed group of people. I can get through this...it is only 48 hours. I can do this." That leaves us with Mike. Perhaps the bravest man on the face of this earth. Certainly the bravest man in the province of Ontario. Mike is a friendly chap with a gentle soul who probably at a moment of weakness said to his colleagues at the office in the Kitchener/Waterloo area..."sure...walking 60 kms with 12 (oops I mean 11)type A personalities over a weekend sounds like a grand idea. What...all these personalities are women? Afraid? Why should I be afraid?" Well Mike, now you know. You should of ran fast in the other direction but I think if the truth be told you are too much of a gentleman to back out. If the truth be told I know we all loved having you on the team...well maybe for the exception of Tanis...but she is just like that and you get used to it! So to all the "newbies" thanks for joining our team and I hope you enjoyed yourselves. As for Tanis...we will work with her throughout the year and see if we can improve things. Keep your fingers crossed!
This is the fifth year the walk has been in Toronto so it is well established in the city. With 5,500 walkers and approximately 1,200 volunteers just by the numbers the energy is higher but until you have walked in other cities you really see it. Now for you folks out west and in Montreal you are going to think...oh here they go again...centre of the universe...but all kidding aside...the energy of the Toronto walk is absolutely phenomenal. From the horns honking all the time and waving to the cars and supporters, to people feeding you, providing water, beer and baileys (I will explain more later). You are so used to waving at honking horns that on Monday morning while driving to work and cutting people off the way I usually do, they did not appreciate me waving to them the same way they did just a short 24 hours ago.
It was very hot on Saturday and the temperature was around 80 degrees with a high humid ex. Somewhere along the walk (probably a bathroom break) I got separated from the "pod". So I was able to catch up and walk for a while with three women and one of them happened to Audrey Loeb. Audrey is a little dynamo of a lady who is credited with the person being the one who brought the "Weekend to End Breast Cancer" to Toronto and Princess Margaret. Audrey lost her sister-in-law to this disease and did this walk down in the States. She had a dream of bringing this up to Toronto and one day seeing 5,000 people walking for a common cause. To End Breast Cancer. It only took Audrey four years to see her dream become a reality and she is one of the walkers that is on the statue in front of Princess Margaret. A fitting tribute to someone that will forever leave a mark in the fight against breast cancer. It was an honour to be able to walk with her for a short period of time on Saturday.
So early I mentioned beer and Bailey's. Just wanted to make sure you didn't drift. The media does a horrible job of reporting what is great about this city and does an excellent job of reporting everything that is bad. I must admit that throughout the walks the media coverage has varied. I would say Calgary had the best coverage it was all over the news but I really question the news media in Toronto. How is it that 5,521 walkers raise 17.3 million dollars because of their donors and this barely gets 30 second of soundbite that masks itself as news coverage. Yet, a shooting gets five minutes. I think most people would rather hear it the other way around. Here is what the news media is missing. Little girls in pink pj's standing on their sidewalks in front of their homes handing out lollipops, apple juice, water, lemonade, Popsicles and the list goes on and on. Do you think it is an accident that they are wearing pink. Their parents aren't standing behind them forcing them to do this. Not one, not in any city I have been to. They are not standing there crying, asking to come in. Not one. The little hands that are lined up along the cheering sections just waiting to give you a "high five". All doing it because they want to. Not one little kid sitting behind a sign crying because they are bored and the sign reads...My mom is my hero...My aunt walks to save lives...Go Dad Go...I am sure that the chalk drawings you see on the sidewalks and driveways encouraging us on are done because they want to...not because they had to. Why do little kids know what the pink ribbon represents? What makes a ten year old little girl named Taylor and her little four year sister named Kennedy want to grow their hair so they can donate it when it gets long enough. Each and everyone one of these little people are doing what they can to be part of this united spirit that wants to beat this disease. These things that these kids do are so much of the reason why we as adults are trying to find a cure. We want to protect them and all of their family from cancer. Now, what would you rather see on the news, kids contributing anyway they can to a cause or yet another story about kids with guns.
So as we are approaching the 30 km part of our walk, we are nearing what we all agree to be the best part of any of the walks...the village of Weston. In previous years we would walk through this part of the city early on Sunday morning. While it is always good to walk here, having it on Saturday at km 30 is in the words of Wayne from Wayne's World "most excellent". It is exactly what we need at this time of the day. This little spot in the world is full of energy, enthusiasm, caring and generous people. How ever I describe them it will not be enough however I will try. Picture a tree lined street with terrific old maples and oak trees and nice homes that were probably built around 1930. These homes all have kids and you can tell and soon as you enter the area...it is a neighbourhood. People actually speak with each other and are interested and care about the lives of the people who make their home beside them. It a group of homes as opposed to being a bunch of houses on the street. The music is loud and danceable, the kids are out having fun, the adults are talking to the walkers, there are posters on all the old trees saying "Go Walkers Go", "You guys rock", "Thanks for walking" and the list goes on. One of the homes is being renovated on the outside and is a beautiful three story brick that has scaffolding out in front of it. The owners have arranged to have a huge banner put across the top of their roof line..."Go Walkers Go" and on their driveway is a 10 foot pink ribbon that is taped down. Imagine that. There had to be a lot of planning that went on to get that banner up there. The people in this great neighbourhood hope (and I honestly mean expect/hope) to serve beer to all the walkers as they come by. Now it is not a full beer but a Dixie cup of beer. This walk has always gone down their street, in fact they call the company that organizes each year to ENSURE the walk goes by their houses. So these people know exactly how many walkers there are and it is their hope that they will be able to give anyone who asks a little bit of beer. Picture this. You and your neighbours get together and hope to give 5500 walkers some beer. I don't know whether they succeeded or not because it was hot on Saturday, but it was awfully neighbourly of them to try. Just special people. Also on one of the trees was another sign...a sign with a list of names. These were the names of people that had lost their battle or who had survived and they were loved by someone on this street. This street, this neighbourhood in a city of 5 million had approximately 20 names on it. 20 people who loved or are missed and the people of this neighbourhood wanted to show the walkers just some of the people they were walking for. That sign will stay with a lot of us for a long time. One of the great people Pat and I were able to meet was Suzanne...Suzanne did all the walks last year too. She wasn't walking this year because she wanted to be home in her neighbourhood and hand out beer to the walkers. Cheers Suzanne and I salute you and your neighbourhood. You live in a special spot in this city and it is an example of the best this city and its people have to offer. I can't wait to see you all again next year.
After leaving Weston, which is very hard because you could stay there all day, we headed to Downsview fully energized and felt absolutely fantastic. The last 5 kms flew by and at the end of the day who was waiting for us...our peeps. Huge grins on their faces, Mizey's amazing whistle and open arms waiting for us. Now it would be good of me to mention here that those open arms were also holding opened beers for us too. I can't begin to tell you how good I felt. I was on such a high from the day I just did not want it to end. So as we sat around and enjoyed the afternoon sunshine at the park and I thought the day could not get any better... it did. Tina. Tina is Joanne's sister-in-law and was walking this year. She was looking for us and saw those great red and white shirts with "BELIEVE" on the front and knew Pat and I would be around there. It was so great to see her. Big hugs. A few tears and a connection that I will have with her and her family for the rest of my life. My commitment to Joanne and her family was that I would try to do something that would honour their example of what love, strength and hope represent. There are many families like Joanne, Mike, Dylan, Dean, Darcy and their "friamilies" that exist in Canada and just by being who they are, inspires you to do something different. Maybe this is my attempt to serve 5,500 hundred cups of beer. The first one I served was to Tina and all I know is that beer we drank while caught up on her family (and I talked to her Mom on the cell) tasted great.
So as we packed up and headed back to our hotel a huge roar came up by the Downsview Airport. As we looked up in the sky this fighter aircraft came roaring over the hanger and went straight up did a roll and took off. Shortly after that another roar....another aircraft. Now remember, this is the weekend after Labour Day and the Ex always has the Airshow so I voiced my opinion that those were the "Snowbirds". Seemed reasonable. Well, one of the newbies (Wanda)thought that I may be wrong...and with a turn of the head and a look that puts fear into the bravest of wholesalers in the insurance business I said "pardon"...Wanda said "that she thought the Snowbirds had white plans and these were grey and actually they looked a lot more like a F-14 or F-15". I am looking around trying to remember who is the one that invited this newbie on the walk I told her of the saying my mother use to say..."I thought I was wrong once but I was mistaken." Wanda then goes on to explain to me in the most apologetic voice that she lived on a air force base with her husband and recognized the planes from those days. Ok...well...you maybe more right than I am. So we watched three more leave and the noise and speed of the air crafts was incredible. One of them could actually make the tail of the plane dip and slide in the same move. I still think it was the Snowbird pilots, after all, they can't always be flying those jets.
To my Mom and Joanne who continue to be my courage and inspiration.
With love and thanks,
M.J.