“I love all the layers of friendship we create as we age. You’re now part of my story, my history, my life and I’m deeply grateful for that.”

This was in a text I received from a friend today – three of us had been texting. I had sent out a bat signal that was probably the text equivalent of a wail – I had asked for a dose of positivity and they brought it, in spades. There were quotes and encouragement and things that made me laugh, and then this quote.

And then I cried at my desk.

The tears I cried were happy ones – and I was washed over by the feeling of being blessed with friends who love and care about me, yes, but that are so much a part of my world and yes, part of my story. And how did that happen? And how, in the face of struggles and difficult roads, do I get to know people who care so much about how I am doing?

“I feel a road trip coming on!”

And it seems like I say it time and again and more times than is necessary but every time it is reflected to me and I see in front of me how very loved I am and how tightly I am wrapped in these friendships I have created with these amazing people I have chosen who have chosen me, my breath is taken away. The strength of the friendships I am surrounded by could move mountains. These women, in their various corners of the world, send their strength and love and their hope and their kindness and their hugs to me and I am enveloped when I have felt I was standing alone. They remind me that I’m not.

all of these lines across my face
show you the story of who I am
so many stories of where I’ve been
and how I got to where I am

but these stories don’t mean anything
if you’ve got no one to tell them to
it’s true, I was made for you

Four years ago, I drove to Chicago to walk in my first Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I’d done my fundraising, I’d prepped myself by taking long walks to train my body to get used to these long walking distances, I even borrowed a sleeping bag thinking I’d actually camp out in the Avon Wellness Village after Day 1 (I didn’t. But y’all probably knew that). I drove down on Friday and on Saturday morning, bright and early, I set out to meet my team at the starting area at Soldier Field.

And when I say “meet my team”, I really mean meet my team.

I’d never met them face-to-face before that morning. Sure, we’d corresponded via Twitter and email, but nope, before that day we’d never spent a single second in each others’ presence… and somehow we were going to walk 39.3 miles side by side.

And you know what? It was a tremendous leap of faith for them to invite me to join them and for me to actually go. And sometimes it’s good to leap, because I’ve never for a single second or a single foot blister been sorry I went.

I walked again the next year.

And the next year after that I flew to San Francisco to walk.

And this year I flew to Boston.

In between all those times? Those women who were my teammates that first morning became my friends. I’m not sure who said it this weekend – if it was Debbie or Barbara – imagine if I hadn’t gone that first year, if we’d have never met, then we wouldn’t have each other.

I suppose you could argue that none of us would know what we were missing – but knowing now what I know about them, I know that there would be a hole in my heart where those friendships belong had I not ever gotten to meet them.

Walking long distances is tough – I’ve heard it’s tougher than running (but seeing as how I don’t think I’ll ever opt to run that far on purpose, I’ll have to take other people’s word on that).When you’re walking all that way, there’s a lot of time for conversation, getting to know people. You learn that one of them is just the right size to stuff in a shopping cart and wheel around a deserted parking lot, or that another hates the word “pee” (you will probably repeatedly forget that she hates it, and you will probably inadvertently say it over and over again causing her to cringe each time – but you know it anyway). You learn about kids and pets and families and work and life.

If you ever want to get to know someone, walk with them for awhile.

Though they have far more miles on their sneakers than I do (I just officially hit my 157th Avon mile – Barbara, on the other hand was on her 17th Avon Walk!), I do my best to keep up. By the time walk day rolls around, we’ve been deep in the process for awhile. We’ve worked hard to fundraise and rally the troops and inform people about the good things the Avon Foundation does with this money to help research cures as well as fund programs for those fighting breast cancer. That’s the hard part.

Walk days are as fun as you make them, and we believe in fun. We believe in creating joy if the crowd support is lacking (and, sorry Boston, it was lacking. San Francisco and Chicago do it SO WELL, that the vibe in Boston was decidedly subdued. Kind of a bummer).

By the time the opening ceremony had ended and the walk kicked off, I had already experienced a huge range of emotions: I’d cried more than once at stories of lives lost to breast cancer, I cheered for survivors, I laughed at cute team tshirts and outfits, I yawned with exhaustion (It was early, y’all). The two days is like that. Once you start walking, add pain, fatigue, excitement, challenge, fury at hills (OH THE HILLS!), laughter, camaraderie… add that all to the mix.

I can’t imagine experiencing that with anyone else but my team. We just work. On the morning of day two when we all hovered around a pool filled with pink rubber ducks at Reebok’s HQ shooting pictures for over ten minutes I realized again, these are my people.

And when blisters slowed me down and I wasn’t zipping at the same pace they were, they slowed for me and refused to leave me behind though I said they could. And eventually we all crossed the finish line together at the end of it all.

We finished the evening with a celebratory dinner, venturing outside at sunset to take pictures of the sky (my people…). We parted ways in the hallway with hugs and love, and the next day all headed back to our corners of the midwest.

I miss them tremendously already.

There’s something soul-lifting about spending time with people you admire, people who are strong and joyful, people who make your world better just by simply existing. Spending time with friends, even while hobbling along with blisters, is renewing and recharging.

That I get so much out of doing this walk would have surprised the Sarah who drove to Chicago to meet a group of strangers to walk 40 miles. This Sarah, however, knows better and is already planning miles 157.2 through 196.5 (Denver 2013, baby!).

In my office today, many people are wearing jeans. Many people are wearing jeans in an office that does not have Jeans Day on Friday. Why are we bucking the tradition? Because they were awesome enough to allow people here to wear jeans with a donation of five bucks towards a breast cancer charity – either my favorite, the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer (to support me) or to any other organization, if they had one they preferred.

Can I just take a minute to say how AWESOME this is?

So, I thought I’d spread this around a bit – because chances are, you’re wearing jeans at work or at home today and you want to donate five bucks to fight breast cancer, that would be awesome. If you need a few more reasons… here’s FIVE.

1. Every three minutes there is a new diagnosis of invasive breast cancer.
That’s a lot. That’s too much. Within the past year, a family friend was diagnosed with a very aggressive breast cancer. She’s younger than me. Friends have had members of their family fighting the disease. There’s a tremendous advantage to awareness and early detection – but whoa if that number of people diagnosed isn’t staggering. It’s too many. It’s an awful disease that needs a cure.

2. Every 13 minutes a life is lost to breast cancer.
Early detection means more people are kicking this disease’s butt… but EVERY 13 MINUTES. Think about that number for a second. It’s devastating.

3. Early detection helps save lives.
The Avon Walk doesn’t just fund research. It funds programs to get treatment for those who are fighting the disease. BUT it also helps promote early detection. In 2011, outreach programs navigated more than 125,000 people into mammography screening and clinical breast exams in 2011 and reached a half million people with critical education and information (*source: Avonwalk.org).

4. Because I’ve already walked nearly 120 miles to fight breast cancer.
And this year I’ll walk 39.3 more. And next year, another 39.3. I’ll keep walking because I believe the work I do fundraising, blogging about, tweeting about, talking about – it all makes a difference. Avon has a saying, “In it to end it.” And I am. I have friends fighting breast cancer. I have friends who are survivors. And I walk for them. But not just for them – I walk for my daughters, so they never have to fear a breast cancer diagnosis. I walk for your daughters. Your moms. Your sisters. Your friends. And not just the women, because you know? Men can get breast cancer too.

5. And if those reasons weren’t enough – you should donate because I’ll be sending something awesome to one randomly selected donor.
If you are more motivated by fun stuff (and sometimes, hey, fun stuff is a motivator) – I’ll be randomly selecting one person who has donated to me this week – be it a $5 donation or a $500 donation – and sending something cool. Something from me and my heart and outta my own pocket – because I appreciate your support and your love.

Click HERE to donate.  Your support makes a difference.

Join me in the fight against breast cancer.