A Message of Hope…

Finally Seattle has had a glimpse of summer. It has been a long road of wait and August seems quite late to consider winter has finally ended. At any rate, I am joyful to be alive and enjoying this fun season with family and friends.

I feel a strong need to send a very heartfelt message to my friends fighting for their lives as I write this. I have decided not to use names so that your privacy is preserved but I know you know who you are. Cancer, in a variety of forms, has changed the lives of many of you in ways I can only begin to grasp. I get strength spending time with you, seeing you in class, or in the gym. I silently witness your amazing perseverance. When I have the chance to speak with you during a workout the message I receive is often consistent. Your workout is a lifeline to normalcy and one of the few moments in your week/month when the body becomes a friend again, something that gives you some momentary control and strength, something that reminds you of the great pleasure and gift that health is. Your battle is quiet, intense, often in pain and for many of you it has been waged for several years…an up and down roller coaster that won’t seem to let you get off and be YOU again.

Your forward push is continuous. Your honesty hits me deeply and my hope for your complete healing is overwhelming. It is an ache that I feel all the time. I have no idea what words to say to comfort you. I hope that any words I write or say are not presumptuous. I can’t possibly know what you are feeling. I know that I speak for many members, staff and friends who struggle with the emptiness of words to convey what we feel, what we hope, what we pray for. The helplessness we feel. Many of us would consider ourselves “fixers” in our lives. We tackle and fix the little things that in the moment seem like big things. It is you, my friends in this fight, whom continue to bring me back to earth to see in every day what is of true importance. For now, every time I feel the endorphins that build during a class…I do my best to channel them to you. Every time I am confronted with a difficult problem or task, have struggles teaching/working, am dealing with an injury, or begin preparing mentally for a tennis match I channel your strength. Whatever the end result, I know it is a minor hurdle, a small challenge. Most importantly, whatever the outcome, I have given it my best.

There is nothing I take for granted anymore. Life changes on a dime, we are all vulnerable and time is precious. We must all embrace life, embrace each other, because our journeys our intertwined. Everything we do and everything we are affects the person next to us. Time together is a gift and I cherish it, as I cherish you.

I pray in your journey you feel the masses of people behind you, cheering for you, praying for you and most of all being so joyful in your good news when it comes. God speed and my deepest love to you. May our glorious sun, even when hiding, always shine warmly on your face.

~Kari