I'd Walk To You If I Had No Other Way...

The other day at school pick up, as I glided through the crowds filled with friends, neighbors and fellow moms, my shades in place so that I could avoid eye contact (a trick I learned from that national treasure, The Situation...and let's face it, PTO prez=local C-list celeb...ha! More on that later...), when the cheery, bright face of my dear Helen caught my eye...she was waving to me and saying:

"Have you

started training?"

And I stood there for a moment unsure of her meaning -- training? Beg your pardon? Maybe she thought I had taken the plunge like the rest of our friends who willingly allow Mary to beat their a**es at her widely popular morning boot camp classes (aka torture sessions). Maybe my form looked extra tight and curve-free that day? But I had just come from lunch with Sam and we scarfed BLTs...I was living life. Just one look at my manicure and you know that I have not been blistering up with weight lifting and push-upping...no chance I had cultivated a hard bod in the last 20 minutes...and anyway, you guys prefer me juicy and delicious (as we say in Jersey...)... Still...training? Did she mean on the giant industrial strength photocopier at the Board of Ed offices that you need a tutorial just to turn on? Or was there some kind of professional or medical or educational thing that I don't remember I was supposed to do? I stared inquisitively back at Helen and her adorable Baby Spice mini ponytails and said:

"Training?"

She answered:

"Yes...for the Avon Walk!"

Ohhhhhhh....right, right...that little old 39 mile walk we are doing in a few weeks. Training? uh, no...no

training quite yet...in fact, I had been so focused on making sure we coordinated hotel rooms and reviewed a list of dining and cocktailing options for Avon weekend, I forgot that my sweet little tootsies will soon be the victim of 48 hours of sadomasochistic abuse...and damn! forget training! I better start fundraising (click here to help!...haha...no really, please do...)!!! How could I forget the main reason a bunch of us Jugheads were doing the Walk again...well aside from 3 days in the City with girlfriends...no, it was all for the cause...to support the women in our lives...our sisters...

Still...I lost focus...but you can't blame me...we had a lot going on these past few weeks, right.... You know...there was the new school year...and for me, PTO prez, that meant writing and giving speeches to anyone who would listen -- kindergarten families...newcomers...Back to School Night...two

Back to School Nights...the first PTO meeting...and the inevitable first controversy. We started Tim's swim team practices (including dryland!) four nights a week...Ellie's first year cheering for Wyckoff football...and Will, his first year away from me for a full day....my sweet little darling, still clinging to me at drop off each morning, not letting me go without an extra kiss, burying his head in my abdomen and grasping the back of my thighs in goodbye...and then running to me at pick up every afternoon, not caring who sees him, throwing his arms around me and telling me he missed me...my heart pinches everyday at 8:40 and 3:10...

And then we had the St. Elizabeth's 1st Annual Church Luau to attend...yes, I said Luau...a New Jersey Luau...which I might add, was planned by a host of my good friends, RJP and Sandy and Kathy...yes, that Kathy...the leader of the Jugheads...so maybe I wasn't the only distracted Jughead. Anyway, I was busy getting myself a big giant fuchsia flower to wear behind my ear and choosing what flat shoes to sport in thegrass...and we had keg beer to drink and leis to wear and dancing to awesome Jersey Shore/Spring Lake/Parker House bar bands

covering Bruce and...well, mostly Bruce...and some Southside Johnny and a little Lynryd Skynyrd (getting our churchy little redneck on!)... And we luau-ed out with Roger's catered delights...some glazey ribs and flank steak on garlic knots and all kinds of meat on a stick...and of course there was pineapple and mangoes to set the scene. And we danced all night with the most festive bunch of Catholics since the g**damned Tudor era. We Catholics do like to party...I mean, if I have learned one thing in life, it is that this must be how they kept people coming back for 2,000 years. In any case...Catholic party animals, new racing suits and prescription swim goggles, pom-poms, 1st grade jitters and Back to School speaking

tours aside, I had an unusually full plate these past few weeks...

And so, it is true...I was forgetting to remember...

And how could I forget how important this Avon Walk commitment was to me and to my friends and...to the world, I suppose too. I mean, I am sure some of you remember that it took me three separate posts to tell you all about it last year...about the kick-off on Friday night at BLT Steak...and staying in the double Queen suite at The Shoreham...and the peanut butter and jelly graham cracker snacks...and sharing each leg of the Walk with another dear friend...and the last 13 miles on Day 1...the Manhattan Bridge hallucinations...the blisters...Jill and Margaret cheering us on at every pit stop...and the Coronas at 12th Street Ale House...and our turn down East 84th Street, where my father grew up...where his mother, herself lost to us by breast cancer, lived too, and how her spirit buoyed my friends and I on that last

mile...how the breeze pushed us over the Randall's Island Bridge as if she guided us with her own hands....even when we took a break to sing "D*** in a Box" on the East River boardwalk....and how we crossed the finish line with Kathy, who is recovering and fantastic and healthy and as cool and amazing as ever...and how we all hugged and cheered together.

That is why I am walking again...for my sisters and my friends...for the memories and the accomplishment...

So, I forgot to train...not tragic.... So my juicy and delicious (ha!) body will be broken and my feet will have blisters and I may have hallucinations on the Manhattan Bridge yet again (well then I will just need to pound another beer at mile 17...)...but

none of those ailments or drawbacks require me to have chemo or experience hair loss and rapid weight loss and loss in general.... And since I brought it up...none of these daily distractions and minor issues and

major controversies and full schedules and canceled plans and bumps in the road that have been distracting me require chemo either....

So now I am remembering to remember...and reminding you too.

Go Jugheads!!

xoxo, Suz

Photos:

1. A bevy of local celebs pawing at my juicy-deliciousness...clockwise from top: Karen, Kath, Suse, ADP, me, Ann and TJ...and some guy...

2. Jugheads 2009 on the Upper West Side...

3. Tim, Ellie and Will...my main distractions...on the first day of school...

4. TJ, Me and my giant fuchsia flower barrette thing...drinking, dancing and singing "Sweet Home Alabama" with the other Catholics...

5. Me and Kath...remembering here to embrace life...and one another...

6. Jugheads 2009 at the 12th Street Ale House...I stand by my assertion, this still ranks in the Top 5 of my most memorable beer moments...

7. A selection of original Jugheads...many of us on the way back for more in a few weeks...we will miss the rest of you!!