Not Quite Seven...

[Dems2002]

I'm going to be 35 in a few months. Not a terribly monumental age. It's not 21 or 40 or even 30. But for me it's always had a significance larger than any number. 35 is how old my father was when he died.

I earned my first ever writing award when I was 12. My story began, "We met in the hospital when I was a few seconds old and it was love at first sight for both of us." It ended with, "my father died a month before my seventh birthday, but I am grateful for all of the good times we shared."

I quote from memory, as the story and the events are indelibly printed on my brain. My father was a simple man. He wanted to be a photographer. Life made him a postman who took photos of high school football games. He missed going to Vietnam because he was diagnosed with Colitis three months before his 21st birthday. He lived with such guilt, but it granted me a father minus the ghosts of war.

In 1979, in order for my parents to afford to buy a house, my mother began working nights and my father days. This made my father, at a time when men rarely held such roles, responsible for making dinner, (real food before the pizza/McDonalds era) giving me my bath, letting me stay up past my bedtime (ok, that wasn't entirely sanctioned by mom) watching Sha Na Na and Happy Days. :) and putting me to bed. In hindsight, this was my miracle. It gave me a father to remember.

It was in October of 81 that my father was diagnosed with non-hodgkin lymphoma -- two-months before his 35th birthday, He died of the disease a mere eight months later on June 15, 1982.

Which is why, a few months ago, I decided to do something to honor both my father life's coupled with the grace of my own personal health. At my age my father was undergoing "working man's chemo." That's when you go to work for the week in order to head into chemo on Friday afternoon. You're sick as a dog all weekend but ready to go back to work come Monday morning. (In other words, when life just really, really sucks!)

So, shortly after my 34th birthday I began training for my first ever triathlon. My father did not have the luxury of health for his 35th birthday. For the time being I have been granted a different fate. I am enormously grateful for such a boon, but believe that it is vital that I give back in equal measure. And so, I am competing in my triathlon not just for myself, but in honor of my father. And I am fundraising for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in his name.

So far I have managed to raise over $3,600 in his name I am enormously grateful to the friends and family who have contributed, but i am forty-eight hours (9:00am Monday morning) away from d-day and I am still $1,300 short of my fundraising goal of $4,900.

If anyone is able to assist with $5 or $10 or $20, I would greatly appreciate it. Just go to the following site: http://pages.teamintraining.org/...

All donations are 100% tax deductible, as donations go directly to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

But even if you can't or simply don't want to :) donate, I thank you for listening to my story. Like many if not most of us, my father will never be remembered in history books. He didn't do anything that history has chosen to consider important enough to catalog. That's okay. He will be remembered by me.

I love you daddy!

Jenn

(Cross-posted on Daily Kos)

[Capn Sunshine]

1. That's a great story

God Bless, amigo.
A little guidance to the donor page would be appreciated

[Bertha Venation]

2. Jenn

I think you're wonderful for honoring your father by celebrating your health. Health is easily taken for granted.

I wish I could donate, but all I can give you is my good wishes. Best of luck in your training.