Aspen came out in full force Saturday to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for breast cancer in the third annual Ride for the Cure, sponsored by the Aspen affiliate for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
I have never been the charitable type: never thought about wanting to save the world, or about helping people in need, or volunteering for this or that. The only time I’ve ever raised money was when my mom refused to pay for my plane ticket to Antigua for spring break in high school. My boyfriend had invited me to go sailing, and mom wanted nothing to do with it. So I started a charity for myself and raised money by writing term papers for half the senior class. I almost flunked out of school, but I earned more than $1,000 in two weeks and learned more in that time than I had in four years.
So when the Susan G. Komen people in Aspen contacted me last spring to see if I would be interested in donating my time as media co-chair, my first reaction was, “Huh?” But then something amazing happened. I thought about someone besides myself.
I thought of my new friend Anne, who was going through chemotherapy when we first met. I had heard from mutual friends that she was ill, but when we finally were introduced, I couldn’t believe it was the woman I had heard about. She was lit up from within, radiant, composed and beautiful.
I remember thinking, “If she looks this good now, I can’t imagine what she looks like when she’s totally healthy.”
From the minute we met, she was very open about her cancer, preferring to talk about it rather than sweep it under the rug. I was amazed by her fearlessness and focus, talking about the unfathomable reality of her condition as flippantly as I would talk about produce at the farmers market.
We talked about stuff like chemo and radiation and double mastectomy surgery and going bald – losing her eyelashes, even. One day I was complaining about my hair and she laughed and said, “At least you have hair!” She has this uncanny ability to joke around and be dead serious at the same time. Let’s just say it certainly put things in perspective for little old sheltered me.
There were days the illness clouded her spirit, even if it hovered for only a few minutes. The light in her brown eyes would fade and harden like melted chocolate when it cools – still sweet, but not as warm. One day we went to see a movie and she was feeling nauseous from the chemo. The dark puffy circles under her eyes said everything, so she didn’t have to. I thought she would want to go home, but she only wanted to figure out what to eat that wouldn’t make her feel sicker. She settled for popcorn and headed into the theater. I remember we saw “Sideways,” and every time I heard her laugh it made me happy, just knowing the popcorn didn’t make her sick.
Needless to say, she inspired me to give this Komen thing a shot.
It immediately put me in touch with an amazing group of people like Ride for the Cure co-chair Elaine Grossman. She basically created the event after finding cycling as her vehicle to recovery after her own bout with breast cancer.
Originally from Boston, Elaine is one of these ageless women who probably has looked exactly the same since she was a teen, with a full head of thick, curly, light brown hair and big, round, hazel-green eyes. I remember dreading my first board meeting, thinking, “I’m too young/poor/clueless to be going to a board meeting,” but as soon as I walked into her house, I knew I was among family. I love nothing more than surrounding myself with beautiful, powerful women like Elaine and everyone who came together to put on the Ride. It makes me less whiny.
The Ride has become one of my favorite events of the year. This year I donned a hot pink dress with bike shorts underneath just to get into the spirit. My psycho dad does the 100-mile ride, a course that meanders through every beautiful spot the Aspen area has to offer, from Ashcroft and the Maroon Bells through Woody Creek and Snowmass. (I do the shorter, 30-mile loop, which means I don’t have to hobble myself and I get to sleep in for an 11 a.m. start.) Of course the entire affair is done with some Aspen style, from the gourmet, catered lunches – don’t miss the monks’ cookies at the monastery in Snowmass; they’re heavenly, so to speak – to the rocking party and barbecue at Paepcke Park afterward.
Maybe it took 36 years, but I finally realized that it feels good to be thinking about someone besides myself. Who knew being charitable could be this much fun?
Freelance columnist Alison Berkley can be reached at alison@berkleymedia.com.
