How cool is this?  It’s a bowl packed full of 670 handmade rubber band bracelets that are cute and colorful.  Everyone lucky enough to pass by gets one as a special gift from Sam.  His hands are the ones that made each and every bracelet to thank the walkers who came out to fight the disease that his Mom is battling for her life.

We’re thinking Sam for President!  Well maybe in a few years!  🙂

It’s just a few blocks away from the finish line.  We are using all the strength we have from our healthy bodies to fight the very brisk headwind coming off of the Harbor.  I’m feeling exhilarated, strong and proud of my accomplishment.  We come up behind a couple ambling slowly, small delicate steps, along the path to the finish. The brim of the woman’s hat says “Survivor”.  The man gently leads her forward helping her legs with both knees taped for strength complete the journey.  The emotions we feel hit us hard.  This is what it is about…women and men fighting diseases of all kinds who find the inner strength to do what seems impossible and letting a trusted companion help them through the struggle.  Many of us passed this couple it turns out as we made our way to the finish and we were all struck by this sight of courage, determination and devotion.  I went back and asked if I could take their picture and told them they were an inspiration to us.  Her name is Laurinda and she is truly a hero.

One thing about the Avon Walk is that you can count on an incredible team of volunteers to cheer you on throughout the walk.  And it does help, mostly because you realize that these folks believe in the cause enough to donate two days of their lives to this event.  There are individuals who follow the course and stop along the way to clap and cheer you on.  They may bring music and get you to dance and move some muscles that you might not have used.  Then there are the groups, the Girl Scouts, businesses or community organizations that have gatherings of people clapping and cheering and, best of all, passing out candy!  One group had coffee and Dunkin Donuts – on mile 23 – a well-planned infusion of sugar for the final push.  Just before we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge we were serenaded by a group of young singers.  How sweet was that? And the best group was the Harley guys and gals who provide traffic and moral support throughout the route.  Keeping the brazen New Yorkers and naive out of towers from crossing the city streets against the traffic light and putting an abrupt end to their two day crusade. They are dressed crazy and most decorate their bikes to add to the festivities. Each one has stories to make you laugh and words of encouragement to keep you going.  At one point, with a simple request, Carole Cassell actually got carried across the street!  Had she asked again, she might have gotten a lift straight to the finish line. All the organized efforts however are highlighted by the countless comments and impromptu cheers and words of encouragement from passers by, street vendors, shop keepers and other tourists.

One of my favorite experiences was when we met a smartly dressed elderly woman (probably in her 90s) walking in the financial district. She stopped us as she was cautiously and carefully taking a step up a small curb.  “Girls, are you walking the Avon Walk?  I am a survivor and if I had known I would have walked with you all today.  Thank you girls for walking!”  Believe us, it was our pleasure.

We did it…everyone of us…we finished the 39.3 miles!  And we all can still walk, smile and laugh at our aches and pains.  A pretty amazing feat (pardon the pun) considering so many had their doubts about their ability to push through and finish the challenge.

We celebrated in style thanks to Linda’s husband Ward who was at the finish line to meet us with iced buckets full of bottles of Corona.

Congratulations to the Pink Bragade.

Yep we all made it —  in the front of the pack!  Ready for a more leisurely stroll tomorrow!  

One of the Pink Bragade’s newbies is Laurie, Lynne and Carol’s cousin Debbie from Michigan.  Well, Debbie hadn’t been seated more than five minutes at the table at one of Harlem’s best late night establishments,  the Red Rooster, before Benjamin from Belgium was  at her side.  Using every pickup line in the book, including the fact that he spoke French, Deb finally thwarted him off by telling him in her sweet way that she had kids his size!  He did continue to make his way into some photos.  We had a great time enjoying the music of DJ Masai. (Check out his music at http://www.djmasai.com). His brother, “Groovy”, pictured with the gals was great guy!

WooHoo!! We have some exciting news to report.  Since we have been in New York, our goal was to top $30,000 in donations.  Well, as of today, we are at $30,300.36!  So cool.  Lori, Carolyn and Carole stopped by the event eve celebration at the Hilton which is a welcome event for the walkers.  We didn’t plan to go but they were by there so dropped in and found out we had made “Platinum” level as a team.  We have NO idea why, but it sounds good so we are going with it.:).  We spent the evening getting our bling ready for the walk…most importantly our honor ribbons.  Just a few more hours and we will hit the streets of New York.  Thank you to our whole team – everyone who has supported us along the way!

On Thursday we moved into our “mansion” in Harlem…known as the Harlem Jazz and Gospel Getaway.  It is absolutely beautiful and most importantly has six bedrooms and five bathrooms as you can imagine are needed with a group of 13 women all getting ready to leave for our walk at 5:30 in the morning.

We feel at home here now and if it wasn’t four hours before we have to get up for the walk, we would write more.  So we will share our Harlem adventures soon and for now, we’ll get some shut eye!

We met Patricia while stopped at a traffic light on 125th Street in Harlem, just a block away from the Apollo Theatre where we will be going on Monday night.  She asked Lynne and I if we were twins, something that happens a lot.  We then told her that we were here for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, she stopped mid-stride and put her hand to her heart and said, my sister Rose is a seven year survivor. We told her we would wear a ribbon for her sister – Rose Martin – tomorrow on our walk.  She was so touched. Then we of course had to give her a hug and get her picture.  We are walking for you Rose!

Appropriately for a group of 13 women, the Brooklyn Museum was featuring an exhibit entitled “Killer Heels”‘. And they were!  Reminds me of a quote from Modern Family’s Gloria when she has to wear a pair of flats…..”How do women wear these!” In the opposite sense I’m pretty sure we all were thinking that as we surveyed the Collection of art shoes and historical heels.  There were a few interesting videos too, but you’ll need to ask one of the Brooklyn Eight for the details as this is a family blog.  Have a look at some of these torture devices.