Dear Reader:

Yesterday found me dusting off the tops of my Race for the Cure memory boxes… packed full of memorabilia that brought tears to my eyes.

My thoughts took me back to those early years and the first family gathering on Daniel Island. It was here I first experienced receiving my first pink beads. Each cancer survivor received one bead necklace for each year of life since the initial diagnosis and treatments.

Suddenly Harriett Edwards appeared out of the early morning darkness and placed the first beads around my neck. Harriett and I had known each other as educators for years, but now we shared a pink sisterhood that bonded us on a deeper level.

She had been participating in the Race for the Cure for at least two years prior to my entrance and it was Harriett who then introduced me to Brenda-from then on we met every year for a decade ( until the race was moved to N Charleston) -we were the ” Three Pink Warriors!”

We always ” Got Our Pink On!” Somehow… just being together and knowing we had circled the sun another year and were still here …put smiles on our faces!

We even joked that we all had accumulated so many beads… we could throw our own ” Pink Mardi Gras” celebration 🍾!!!

Time flies… in spite of good or not so good conditions… time never stops, slows down, or speeds up… it steadily and stealthily keeps moving forward. Saturday night earthly time ended for ” One Pink Warrior” -Harriett Edwards left us and joined God’s Warriors and I have no doubt she is passing out baked goods, flowers and ” surcies” of every description imaginable … because she never left my house without leaving a part of herself behind… generosity beyond measure!

I know Brenda will agree with me that Harriett was the strongest ” Pink Warrior” among us … as she tackled the formidable pink nemesis repeatedly and against all odds came out on top. She took on each challenge with a positive attitude and a strong determination! A role model for everyone fighting ” insidious ” diseases that keep uninviting themselves back into our lives!

The one time I remember Harriett missing a Race for the Cure… ( she had gone home to a family gathering near Andrews) Brenda and I felt her missing presence keenly… we kept looking around to hand her … her pink carnation. We missed her.

So until tomorrow… My favorite treasure in my pink memory box was this adorable angel necklace Lassie gave me at or near the end of our last family gathering for the Race for the Cure. It looked like a Pippi Longstocking angel-so whimsical -it stole my heart ❤️ instantaneously!

Staring down at the adorable angel… Harriett immediately popped up in my thoughts…no doubt to reassure the warriors back on this side that one day, like her, we will be heading to a place where disease can not enter and the pink glowing in God’s Home… is abundant, radiant health and love.

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

Speaking for all Harriett’s friends… we can loudly proclaim ” What a friend we had in Harriett!”