Mary, my friend

by Gay Deerings

People in my life are effected daily by Breast Cancer.

Mary Robinson walked into my life after her first round with Breast Cancer. She had a wonderful outlook on life, wonderful words on raising children, and always, a smile, a laugh.

When the cancer came back, she took on the battle. Still putting her family and friends first, she did everything available to fight it. Regrettably, I did not see Mary as much as I should have. There were notes, phone calls and word kept through others.

And Mary left.

She continues to be a major part of my daily life, my family, my friends. Her sister, her husband and her family are among my dearest friends.

Mary touched hundreds of lives deeply. Many people live enriched lives because of her. But, that’s not how anyone wanted to be enriched. I personally wanted to grow old and gray with Mary.

So, Mary’s friends and family gathered together to do something with their grief. The celebration for Mary was packed.

Now, we Dance for the Cure. We would prefer not to Dance for the Cure; we really want to just dance.

Mary, my friend, I promise: we will find a cure for all of us left here; we will find a cure to honor all the good people that are gone; we will find a cure to improve our future. The power of my promise is selfish: no family, friend, mom, dad, brother, sister, son, daughter, husband, or wife should have to go through this suffering.

Mary, we will find a cure so that no one will have to write a note like this again and we can just dance.