3 Days of My Life

Day 3 2002

Day 3! Our “sleep-in” day. We had set our alarm for 5, but it didn’t go off. No problem; I was wide awake. Got up around 5:30. Another great breakfast--VERY thirsty this morning, which might not be a good sign, but I felt fine. As I stood in the line for vegetarian breakfast (no sausage for YOU!), the woman behind me sleepily asked, “Is this the vegetation line?” Yeah, pretty much. After a refreshing orange juice shower compliments of Natty, we headed to our tent and started packing up.

Thank goodness for another beautiful, sunny day. Still, packing up that tent is no fun. We did find a bunch of things we thought we’d lost--one of my pink ribbon earrings, a safety pin, and Natty’s cheesecake from the other night. We could NOT get our tent rolled up small enough to fit in that stupid bag. Other people helped us; a crew person helped us. Finally even she had to give up and just tie the bag around our wad of a tent, instructing us to tell the gear truck person we couldn’t get it to fit. I realized later I had left that STUPID canvas in the bottom!! Sorry, crew!

By the time we were ready to go, there weren’t too many tents standing. The line to get on the buses was blocks and blocks long, but it moved fairly quickly. We didn’t mind waiting; we had a chance to chat with some more cool people. Every so often, a bus full of 3-Dayers would pass by, and we all cheered each other on. I think we were in that line for about an hour, but no one really cared. It was Day 3! Soon we were loaded onto a bus and headed to our starting point, which was the site of last year’s Day 2 camp in Skokie. By Day 3, you don’t even think about it: you pee, grab water, Gatorade, and food. It’s just a mindless routine. Stretch while you’re standing in line; inevitably see the same people you’ve seen the previous two days. Hi, Pam!

Sooooo nice to walk through Skokie and Evanston. Unfortunately we missed Mom at the Mason Park cheering station, but there were LOTS of people honking and cheering us along the way. It was a fun and fairly easy day. The only low point? Dropping my water bottle and getting it all encrusted with dirt. YUCK!

Walked along the lake, through Loyola, and then...DONE! Or almost done. This year, instead of a holding area, our penultimate stop was lunch, where lots of people, including Mom, Dave, and Dave’s brother Char, were waiting to cheer us in. Even tho Sunday was a relatively short day (11 miles), it still felt pretty good to SIT. The best veggie lunch of all: PB&J! Luckily I wasn’t too sick of peanut butter to enjoy it.

We had another mile to walk to Closing Ceremonies. My personal cheering station accompanied us for a while, then peeled off to join the throng. Natty and I made it to the finish line,” totally overwhelmed by all the people cheering along the sides. It was amazing, exuberant, fun!!! Wow. Got our Victory shirts and sat down to cheer in everyone else. We saw Priya come in!!! Found out later she had spent the 2d night in the medical tent hooked up to an IV. She looked very pleased to have made it. We saw other people we had met or seen along the way. Family members darted out of the crowd for emotional reunions. After about an hour, we made a quick dash to the (plentiful, thank goodness) port-o-potties, then made our way toward the Closing Ceremonies stage. LOTS of people. Walkers and family and friends. Jeff announced that the ceremonies would begin in about 20 minutes, as the last walker was just entering the lunch area. Then, “Ladies and gentlemen, the last walker is now 10 minutes away from the stage area!” Finally she arrived, and got to walk down the middle of the crowd, accompanied by the sweep captain and “caboose.”

From this point, the closing ceremonies were very much like previous years. The breast cancer survivors came triumphantly in, arms raised, followed by the crew members, then the survivor circle, during which we observed three minutes of silence. Now that was amazing. How many people were there? 10,000? And complete and utter silence for three minutes.

This is the survivor circle poem:

Now, we kindly ask for your attention.
Please hold the hands of the people next to you.
Remain silent and hold your applause
As a group of breast cancer survivors moves toward the stage.
These women surround an empty circle.
Inside it, spirit.
The spirit of all those lost to breast cancer.
We use this circle of survivors to remember a time when there was laughter and conversation.
We use it to bring back, for a moment, the sounds of their voices,
The fleeting mist of their faces in the eyes of our minds.
A circle for all of the memories.
Of a time when there was life and conversation.
When they walked with us.
All of the promise.
The beauty.
The laughter.
It is a circle to hold all of the sorrow.
All of our loss.
And a time for us to remember them:
With our thoughts
and our tears.
To create a place where it is safe to let your tears fall, into the arms of all those around you.
The women around the circle represent another spirit
The spirit of survival.
The spirit to keep living.
The promise of a new self
A new life, not ordered by the limits of the past
But wide open to the wildest of dreams
It holds all of our 6,000 spirits, gathered here today,
it holds our magnificence
and it holds the thought that if we can do this
we can do anything.

In the face of fear.
In the face of the unknown.
The spirit to bear all the things

That cause us to rest, to quit, to sit, to cease,
And remake them
Into reasons
To keep walking.

Today, we connect with the spirits of the departed
We honor the unstoppable spirit of the survivors
And we walk for both.

Today we create a living breathing human monument
More beautiful than any cast in bronze or carved of granite
And our monument shouts to all who will hear
We will never give up.
We will never give up.
We are alive, and we will never give up.

Good-bye, Chicago! The Pallotta train is on its way to San Francisco!

We straggled toward our gear holding area and met Dave, Mom, and Char. Surprisingly, we got out of there fairly quickly, considering the amount of people. Dave had a great parking space, so we just breezed right on outta there. A much-needed stop at Hubs for some greasy food, then...home! Shower! Bed! Cats!

It was a great three days.

DAY 4: Re-entry

On Monday, I felt pretty good. I had felt good throughout the walk. Thanks to my chiropractor and acupuncturist AND to the cortisone shot for my toe, I was in good shape. I think this is the best I’ve felt, no stomach problems, no blisters, just general soreness and stiffness.

Now there’s that empty feeling. I’m glad it’s over but sorry, too. No one can understand the 3-Day World unless you’ve been a part of it. We all wish we could carry the spirit into our regular lives, and maybe some people succeed. I wish I could find a way to do it. At least I have the experience of three years of wonderful 3-Days. I am so happy to have shared it with Natasha, my family and friends, and YOU!

I don’t know what next year will bring, but please keep checking back. I will continue to update this site and bring you more news and information about these three very important days of the year.

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