Race for the Cure 2011

Sunday I participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Central Park. I was joined by eight of my colleagues and three friends, representing our company.

This was the first race of its kind that I've participated in, and one that I will certainly participate in for years to come. The event hosted thousands of runners and walkers (myself the latter...as all I do is eat nowadays), all varying in age from children to elderly.

I was astonished by the amount of support from such a huge number of people, many being survivors, family members of survivors or deceased, or even those who just care about the cause and understanding its devastating impact on women and men.

What touched my heart were the children wearing memorial tags reading "my mother." We often forget that cancer has no age or no consideration for those it may affect. It was one of those experiences that makes you stop and count your blessings, remembering that whatever is difficult in your life is suddenly so insignificant.

Race for the Cure is more than simply a way to raise money for research, but it was a way to show all of those battling cancer or ones who have lost loved ones from the disease that there is support all around us. It reminds us that we are all in the fight to eliminate cancer together, and that even when times are unbearable and no future is in sight, there are always people who will pull us through the finish line.

The Big Orange Meets the Big Apple

Who says Tennessee football only exists in Orange Country? This Saturday I ventured to Traffic Bar and Lounge, walking into my newest destination this football season.

New York City is said to host a number of college chapters, each sponsored by a local bar...of course there has to be booze involved when it comes to the SEC (I still maintain that no other division knows quite how to tailgate like we do). The front door welcomed pedestrians with a Power T and blowup Smoky-- that's a winner in my book!

The Bar boasts two stories, the top designated for all those who bleed orange. This past week I did a Facebook search of friends living in the City, deciding I was done spending so much time with male friends, and needed some girlfriends (which was reaffirmed by my gay best friend saying he didn't count). To my surprise, I came up with a number of friends that I either had classes with or knew through mutual friends. We all agreed to meet up Saturday, and what better way than to cheer on our alma mater?

Although we weren't at Neyland Stadium, we certainly celebrated like we were. The crowd was a sea of orange, Southern dialects broke the air with their vulgar rants, and whiskey flowed almost as smoothly as the moonshine would in Knoxville (let's just say I'm NOT in college anymore, and I may or may not have been in bed by 8:30).

I had an absolute blast catching up with old friends and making plans for the upcoming weeks-- even convincing one friend to join the New York Junior League, which I just transferred into last week (yes, that's the Southern in me). I met many other new faces as well, since, just like below the Mason Dixon, we'll talk to about anyone. Ironically, one girl and I have 65 mutual friends (according to FB, of course), some being my best friends from undergraduate!

What I realized about this experience was not necessarily that I may be past my celebratory prime, but rather that even after being gone from the College for more than two years, it still is providing me with what I loved most about it. It brings together a number of people, no matter age or hometown, but all there for the love of our undergraduate memories. Through this commonality (of once being ranked one of the most delusional fan bases in college football) we form friendships no matter if we are in the Tennessee hills or are amongst a city of skyscrapers.

So here's to Rocky Top and all the half bears/half cats I met this weekend.

I Seeeeeeekype You

Digital media is my life. It’s the world I grew up in…even though I can remember life before the internet (vaguely, that is). It is what I spent six years studying in college and graduate school; it is how I share my life with the world; it is how I make a living; and most recently, it has become my lifeline.

Enter: Skype. The free video chat application has blown up the digital world since its introduction in 2003. Now hosting 929 million users, the company is said to be worth $8.5 billion. It’s being used to connect deployed soldiers with their families, educate students together, separated by continents, and most recently as a cost-reducing tool for “in-person” interviews, eliminating the need for candidates to be flown into offices.

Whatever its use, it’s brilliant, and I think sometimes it has enhanced my life in significant ways. I’ve always found that the hardest part of living far from home is missing out on watching my nephew and nieces grow. They are the only children in our immediate family, and are loved in a way I didn’t know possible for children that weren’t your own.

Since I have moved to the City, Skype has been my lifeline to them. I’m not left with phone conversations where every two minutes my sister says, “Avery, you have to hold the phone to your ear,” or have to be told that Sadie Grace’s hair is turning red. I can now see it with my eyes, and it’s like I’m there.

My immediate family, my aunt’s family and my grandparents usually do Sunday dinner together. It’s a tradition I grew accustomed to during my brief time living at home before I moved here. Now I don’t have to miss out on Sunday dinner. I Skype with my entire family, everyone taking a turn in front of the computer to hear about my week and tell me about theirs. Now Jackson can tell me about the girls in his new class, and I can see him blushing, knowing he has a crush on someone. I wouldn’t know this if I only spoke to him.

You might think that Skype isn’t for everyone, but you’re wrong. My grandparents Skype with me unfazed that even though they don’t know how to program a number in their cell phone, they can video chat with me. My parents Skype with me, following the directions to log on that my sister typed out for them. My uncles, so tech-unsavvy were giggling like 5-year-olds in a candy store the first time we saw each other through computer screens. Even SG, in her short four months of life, Skypes with me, staring at the bright computer screen with her wobbly head, smiling just because she hears a familiar voice.

I also spend Sundays Skyping with my girlfriends. The one thing I miss most about living with my future bridesmaids is laying around on Sunday, recapping our weekend (and the *ahem* crazy nights out). Although we aren’t together experiencing things, we still talk like we are all together. I don’t have to miss out just because I’m so far away.

If you have a friend or family member that is as far as a phone call, I suggest this solution to closing that gap. The digital world wasn’t designed to make our world more difficult. Although it makes our world more complicated at times, it mutually makes it better. Thank you God for the creators of Skype, they’ve made my life better.