Remembering

Wednesday, I finished my October socks for the Sock a Month KAL that I am a part of on Ravelry. Here they are:

I chose to do Jaywalkers in Lorna's Laces Flamingo Stripe colorway as a tribute to Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As many of you know, I lost my mom, Pat, to breast cancer in April of 2004. Also, her birthday is on October 14th. These things somehow guided me when I was making my selection for my October Socks.

But while I was knitting them I began to think that really our society should really be "aware" of breast cancer all year long. Sure, everyone gets excited in October about help the cause, racing for the cure, etc. I even noticed that some of the college football refs were using pink whistles!

How many of us have had a mom, grandma, aunt, niece, sister, daughter, friend hit by this awful disease? I'm sure each of us can think of someone that has been close to us that was touched by this. But not just in October.

I was at a gathering not long ago and was visiting with 5 women that I didn't know very well. The subject of breast cancer came up and do you know that each of us has lost their mother to this disease? There was a very awkward silence for about 30 seconds and then someone said, " I guess I didn't realize that so many people I know have been hit with this."

I sometimes feel like I carry a soapbox around for those occasions when I hear of women putting off getting mammograms. "It's inconvenient", "It hurts", "I'm afraid". Well, when you think of the alternative.......nuff said.

I know that I'd rather face inconvenience, pain and fear then the possibility of what my mother went through.

Please get a mammogram every year.