The Sweet Dream

The other night, a few of us gathered together to toast the memory of our friend, TNT teammate, and fallen cancer warrior Ed Stone.  We went around the table and we each said something about Ed, maybe a memory we had of this great guy.  Here is the story that I related.

When I walked in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure in 2011, I had well over 100 people make a donation to me.  Everyone who made a donation got an email from the Komen organization a couple of weeks before the walk.  The email talked about how they could give the person that they donated to a "Sweet Dream."  For an additional ten dollar donation, they could have a chocolate and a note delivered to said participant.

So a few days before the walk, I got an email saying that someone had donated a "Sweet Dream," and that I should check the camp "post office" at the end of the first day of walking to collect it.  I thought that was pretty cool, and wondered who among my many donors would have done this.

At the end of the first day, soaked and tired, I trudged through the mud of camp to collect my "Sweet Dream."  Of course, it was from Ed and Leslie, with a kind note about what I was doing in my sister's memory.  I very much appreciated and was touched by their thoughtfulness.  At that point in time, Ed's left leg had essentially been ruined by a failed attempt to destroy the melanoma in that leg.  He was in a lot of pain and misery, struggling to get around with a walker.  These once strong legs, which had once propelled him 100 miles on a bike and 26.2 miles on foot, could barely get him across a room.  Yet here he was, thinking of others, as was Leslie.

It was a gesture that was so typical of this couple.  I will never forget their kindness, and as I savored the chocolate that night and prepared for sweet dreams in my little pink tent, I said a little "thank you" that there are people in this world like Ed and Leslie, even though there are not enough of them.