I went to the wrong cancer walk

It's Saturday. It's the first weekend of June. It's the start of meteorological summer. It's the start of the charity walk/run season.

Every weekend from now through October, you'll find a charity walk happening somewhere. One...two...five or more of them. North side, south side, suburbs. Grant Park and Lincoln Park. Belmont, Diversey or Montrose Harbor. If there's a large grassy space, there's a charity walk filling that space.

Every charity has a walk. All the cancers. MS, Parkinson's, Diabetes, ALS. Every. Single. Disease!

And I'm not knocking them. They're all needed. It's a great way to raise money and awareness for their cause. It's also an opportunity for their community to meet up and bond. Solidarity with some fun mixed in.

This weekend it was Melanoma's turn. I'm a survivor of that disease plus I know a few others who have been through that battle so I set my alarm, woke up early and headed off for the bus that would take me to the Miles For Melanoma event at Montrose Harbor. As the bus reached the last stop, it became a little tricky.

I walked off the bus with another man and we started the walk to the harbor. It's about a fifteen minute trek to the walk location so we had plenty of time to chat. This was his first cancer walk and also his first time at this location, so he had plenty of questions:

Have you done this before? Do you know the location? Should we walk on the grass? Are there a lot of people at Pancreatic Cancer walks?

Hmmmm....my answers were yes, yes, yes and PANCREATIC??? I'm going to the Melanoma walk!

I should have taken that as a sign because let's face it, it was a very huge sign. But lots of times, there is more than one walk at a park. Montrose Harbor is a large space so why not? We continued our walk.

A few minutes later, we arrive at our ummmm his destination. We said goodbye and I went looking for my Melahomies.

There was no sign of them. Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zip!!

I looked for someone who might be in charge. I found a few people wearing vests. I figured the vest meant they were in charge and it would give them certain powers. At worst, they might know something. Again...Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zip.

At this point I did what I should have done weeks ago....or at least before I left my home an hour earlier. I checked Google!! Pro tip: ALWAYS CHECK GOOGLE!! I found the Miles For Melanoma home page and actually read it. Apparently reading is a skill I need to work on...pffft. The walk was being held at Diversey Harbor....five minutes from where I live....FUCK!!!!!!! Oh yeah...one more Pro Tip: Just because an event was held in one location for three years don't assume that it will be there again for year four!! It's that damn assume thing again!!

But now for my next conundrum...how am I going to get to Diversey Harbor in time for the walk that starts in fifteen minutes?

I walked quickly back to the main street. I figured I'd catch a cab but couldn't find one. There never is a cab available when you need one. But hey...there's the bus. I'm waving it down. Please don't leave...PLEASE!!! I caught the bus.

I took that bus to Belmont Harbor and took another long walk over to Diversey Harbor. The good news is the event was running late...PHEW!!!

Other than that were only four porta-potties for 1,000 people, it was a nice event. I skipped the walk/run portion of the walk/run....hey, I did enough walking just to get there.....and scarfed up enough sunscreen to last the summer. I finally found my friend, fellow blogger and Melanoma survivor Amy as she finished her run. We caught up on lives, chatted about Melanoma and it was time to call it a day.

Now for the real good news: The fund raising goal for the event was $150K and they are now at close to $175,000!! You can still help the cause by donating here.

That's my story of the two cancer walks in one day. That I went to the wrong one is something we can keep to ourselves? I can trust all of you, right? My next charity walk isn't scheduled until the fall. If anyone wants some support on these, let me know but please tell me the right location. PLEASE!! Thanks in advance.

Related and most recent post: National Cancer Survivor's Day-A day of gratitude and why me

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