How I Spent my Summer Vacation....

Yesterday I woke up bright and early. I had a good breakfast of oatmeal and OJ. Took my vitamins and supplements. Drank some water. Then I drove down to the Rudgear Park and Ride. A few minutes after my arrival in drove my friends, Lois and Connie. They picked me up and off we drove to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. We were on our way to participate in the San Francisco AIDS Walk.
Driving with these two good friends is kind of like driving with my sisters. Driver and Navigator at odds with one another in a good natured fashion. "What do you mean, turn left? Doesn't it say no left turn?". "Go ahead do it anyway. No one is looking". "But what about that Muni bus coming at us?" Don't pay attention to him, he'll move". "Hey lady, I have the light" "Don't give me that look".
In spite of all the drama, we made it in one piece to Sharon Meadow and the gathering place for the 2009 San Francisco AIDS Walk. It was amazing. It was a small gathering of friends, maybe 25,000 or so. Despite the numbers, everyone was eager to be obliging and there was a totally festive air. We walked in to the registration area at the tennis courts and were greeted with cheers and the clanging of cow bells. The registrars got us the pins that identified us as members of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation Team and papers that said we were entitled to a tee shirt and lunch ticket at the SFAF booth. So off we went to find that booth. Before we found it though we were plied by dozens of volunteers carrying boxes of all kinds of food and drink. Bananas, bagels, oatmeal bars, yogurt bars, fruit drinks, water. There was something for everyone and it was all free. And as we made our way to the SFAF tent I really began to get an idea of how many people and companies were involved. Starbucks, Chevron, FedEx, Wachovia/Wells Fargo, Kaiser, Gap, Williams-Sonoma. Everywhere I turned there were tents and people in their team tee shirts milling around. And it wasn't just employees of companies. Whole families were taking part too. It was a truly lovely sight.
At the SFAF booth we got our lunch tickets and our team shirts. Then we went off to the awards booth to get our extra "stuff" for having raised a certain amount of money. Chico tote bags, water bottles and a cool SF AIDS Walk shirt. Very nice indeed.
By this time we had added Allen and Marcia to our group and soon Zainab joined us. We listened to some speeches, took part in some warmup boogying and listened to a very fine poet whose name eludes me right now. Then we strolled over to hippy hill where our SFAF group had its picture taken. Finally we were led to the front of the Walk line. At 10:30 the walk began. It was only a 10K so it was literally a stroll in the park for 5 of the 6 of us. We've all done marathons except for Marcia. But Marcia has done the 10K Mayor's Walk in Honolulu so she has experience. Although we were part of the SFAF team I felt we needed a further indentifying moniker. We sort of decided on "The East Bay Fabulous Five". (Before we started our walk we lost Zainab but found her again at the end). As usual, Allen was our pace group leader. In marathon training that means that he has to tell us when to walk and when to run. For this event it merely meant he had to remind us to hydrate. The day was on again off again sunny. Sometimes the clouds rolled in making it a little chilly but generally it was sunny and warm. We were serenaded by a number of bands including the Cal and Stanford bands. There were also radio stations along the route to cheer us on. And there were portions of the AIDS quilt on display in two different places. Some of the quilt pieces were from corporations which had employees they wanted to memorialize. Some of the quilt pieces were from family members. There was a sweet one that just had a stick figure of a woman and said something like, "I miss you Mommy, Love, Justin" Very, very touching.
The 10K was marred only at the very beginning by a guy standing across the street on the sidelines who felt it necessary to heckle the walkers. But bless the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence! They stood across the street from him but between him and the walkers and just cheered us on. He was easily and quickly forgotten.
The 10K took us about 2 and a half hours and before we knew it we were back at the start. Again, there was food everywhere. Ice cream bars, bananas, and chips and drinks. And the Wells Fargo contingent honored our lunch tickets with a pasta, salad and cookie lunch. It hit the spot. We collected our finishers certificates and travelled back to the East Bay. A wonderful time was had by all. I saw only smiles and heard only happy voices all day long.
We were there to honor and remember those who had fallen to HIV/AIDS and encourage those who live with it. We hope that soon there will be a cure. But until there is we will help SFAF to help those who live with it here in the Bay area and around the world.