The Bittersweet Ending

For at least seven years I have walked in numerous Komen Races, in different cities, always wearing the same pink message on my back -
IN CELEBRATION OF:
my sister Stephanie,
Aunt Dorothy, and
my grandmother Katie.


Today, as a new survivor, I walked among the tide of pepto-pink, in celebration of countless others:
Auntie Wanda
Theresa
Tawana
Claire
Becky
Karen
Nicky
Angie
Andi
Lisa
Miyun
Myra
Bonnie
Jean
Mrs. Goldman, Mrs. Gray, Mrs. Bunting,
and Kathy, the fellow survivor that I met as we walked from our hotel, to the survivor's tent.

For the first time, I also penned a second, pink message to my back.
This one read,

IN MEMORY OF:
Thea Williams

...a college acquaintance and morning news producer in Texas.
Thea died last Wednesday, after having fought the good fight.
Our diagnoses were only one month apart,
but our outcomes could not have been more different.

And before the day's end,
I learned that my sister's friend Andi
had also passed away; she died yesterday.

I walked in celebration of a life that was already gone.