One Month, PEOPLE, And We Turn Charlotte Black!

And do some serious multitasking!

One month, from today, November 16th, many of us from the melanoma community, myself included, will begin descending on Charlotte, NC for our Saturday November 17th Aim at Melanoma Walk.

Before we ever start Walking, we'll be flying or driving in from around the country. We'll be registering at our hotel and hugging other early birds. We'll be meeting and greeting. We'll be making plans for supper and sharing with each other face-to-face. We'll be putting voices and squeezes with names. We'll continue the bonding we began online and take that bonding deeper than we ever imagined when we first became "friends" on Facebook.

Saturday we'll continue multitasking as we try to walk, raise funds, and keep hugging people we haven't met yet. There will be tears and laughter. A lot of talking! We may take turns pushing our friends around the track if they need a wheelchair to participate. After the event we'll still be a group that goes golfing or other activities...maybe napping getting ready for

Saturday Night! After Party Time!

More laughing, talking, singing, bonding, not letting go of those we're finally getting a hold of.

And then comes Sunday and many will head for home, myself included. But we won't be the same people we were when we first arrived in Charlotte. And when we log back onto Facebook, our changed relationships will show as our conversations go to a whole new level.

We won't be just Facebook friends anymore with miles and computers between us. We'll be friends who have spoken, touched, hugged, laughed with, leaned on, cried with, each other. We'll see each other as we really are and not just what we have pictured in our minds' eye. We'll be surprised because we'll all be different than others thought we were. We'll look different, sound different than what people thought. And that's OK.

We are people who will have achieved a goal and we are a group who will have turned Charlotte black.

We will have arrived as "family" and we will leave as FAMILY. In each others' hearts, minds, lives, and prayers in ways we weren't before actually meeting.

Hugging somebody changes the relationship. It just does.

It's not to late to make plans to join us and here's the link to the Walk page.

I look forward to hugging each and every person there.

Charis