Walk for Mrs. T.

Mrs. T. is my son's beloved music teacher. That's what they
actually call her - Mrs. T. JD has blossomed as a talented
young musician under her care. He's discovered that he
especially likes instrumentals.

Earlier this year, the whole school community was saddened to
learn that Mrs. T. has cancer. She will be out on sick leave for
most of the year. On her last day, all the kids and teachers
lined up at the front door and "clapped" her out. For most of
the students, this is the first time they have been personally
touched by cancer. You could say that it is the first time
cancer has a face - Mrs. T's face.

Each year, the school sponsors a "Walk for Life" wal-a-thon to
raise money for cancer research. For this year, they changed it
to "Walk for Mrs. T." The response was tremendous. Everyone
was out there for Mrs. T. And that means me, too.

With my mother to help me, I set out to walk one mile. We
accidently dressed in identical KSU hoodies. I called it our
team uniform. "Team Pathetic," she said. Maybe so, but we were
there to do our part.

Slowly, with many rest stops, we made it four laps around the
track. I was truly surprised. I didn't know I had that in me.
It was only one mile, of course, but in some ways, it was so much
more.

JD walked 25 laps (6.25 miles) for his teacher. He joined us in
the car with aching feet and a sweaty body. He was proud of his
accomplishment. All together, our family raised $82.50. Most of
that came from JD's walking.

I said, "I can't believe you walked that much! And I thought I
was special for doing one mile."

JD replied, "Mom, you are."