Several years ago I walked in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Denver. The first day of the walk started off in a normal way. The opening ceremony began at the crack of dawn when walk organizers welcomed all of the walkers and supporters. An armada of tough smiling men wearing pink and riding roaring motorcycles lead the parade of walkers through the park. And then we walked. We walked all day.
The walk is a 39 mile walk, with 26 miles walked the first day and an overnight camping stay at a distant park. As we were finishing our final miles on that first day I was filled with a mix of emotions. I was excited to finish the walk, but I also had a feeling of impending doom as we made our way toward the very park where students at Columbine High School had evacuated during the shooting spree years before. As the finish line came into site, the dark feelings began to lift, and we became excited to see our friends and family waiting for us at the park's finishing line.
Exhausted, we worked to set up our tenting sites for the night and prepare for showers and dinner. My friend Jackie had driven from Santa Fe and was one of the people waiting at the park that evening. She graciously set up the tent where Joel and I were going to spend the night while I went to wait in line to use a shower. As I waited in line, dark black clouds appeared on the horizon bringing back back the feeling of impending doom. The clouds seem to come in faster than any storm I had ever seen and lightening began striking close by. Despite the storm, taking a shower after walking all day in the sun seemed like the most important thing in the world. I stood in line and waited. Soon the lightening was hitting very close and people who were thinking on our behalf evacuated the showers and told us to take cover.
I ran back to my tent site where Jackie was finishing the set-up. She had just rolled out the sleeping bags, and the tent looked so comfortable. As she finished up the final work she crawled out of the tent to see the storm clouds coming over. I kept thinking, "we have done a long day of walking for something so great, how can something bad happen to us now. There is no way something bad can happen. We are here today only for good." And then the big rain and wind started.
In order to secure the tent, Jackie and I jumped in to weigh it down. We zipped the door closed and waited. As the rain came hard we could hear people running by our tent. Then the hail started. We could hear people screaming. We could feel the hail pelting the tent as we braced ourselves against the sides to keep it from rolling. We were scared. It felt like someone was throwing baseballs at us, and we only had the thin protection of the tent for safety. I remember looking at Jackie. Her hair was wet and she wore a nervous smile. We looked at each other and laughed. We were soaking wet and stretched out from head to toe trying to protect the integrity of the tent. As we held down the tent and laughed we felt other tents hitting us and rolling by as the storm delivered its full punch.
We survived the storm and crawled out of the tent to find destruction all around us. By the end of the evening most of the tenters had to leave the campground and find other accommodations because their sleeping bags were wet -- or missing all together. Because Jackie and I stayed, we were able to keep the tent fairly dry allowing Joel and me to spend the night at the park campground. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do -- staying in the tent through the storm -- but I have never been happier to sleep in a tent with a wet pillow and wearing dirty clothes. Joel eventually made it to the campground too, and even though he was sick, we slept through the night without catastrophe.
I didn't get to take a shower that night. In the end the shower that seemed so important could wait. I remember thinking even moments after the storm that I was lucky that I had a friend with me and we were both lucky to have survived the dangerous summer storm. The next morning, I walked past smashed and overturned tents to the showers. Because so many people had spent the night elsewhere there wasn't a single person in line for the showers. Actually, there wasn't a single person taking a shower that morning, I was all alone. While cleaning off I used the pink bottle of shower gel that had been given to all walk participants. I must have used half a bottle that morning scrubbing off dirt, enjoying the simple warm water, the clean smell of soap, and an invigorating feeling of survival. It was the best shower ever, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
Even today I am so grateful to Jackie. I am grateful that she stayed with me holding down the tent. I was grateful to reconnect with Joel that night, and that we were able to camp together in our small damp tent. And I felt so grateful that I was healthy, healthy enough to continue walking the next day and complete the 13 miles of walking.
With the amazing stress of the closing of the College at hand, stress that has lead to physical and mental exhaustion, laughing with coworkers because crying seems too scary -- I am reminded of this other event I was fortunate to survive. I am grateful for my friends and family who are helping me hold down the tent. I am grateful to have Joel with me every night after both of us come home after hard days at work. And most importantly, I feel lucky to be healthy. I can't wait for the last leg of this 13 mile walk to end!
If you want to follow the story of 2 Avon Walks, you can visit the Walking Blog at this link , or go right to the story of the day of the storm at this link .
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