Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Feel Teal

On Saturday, March 27th, I will walk in the
2010 Feel Teal – Pray, Race And Yell for a Cure Race/Walk
benefitting the Stephanie Vasofsky Cervical Cancer Foundation.

I wish I didn’t have to.

Stephanie was my daughter’s college roommate. Here’s a picture of them together at graduation. Kelly is the short one, of course. They remained very close even after college. Stephanie moved home to Memphis, married her college sweetheart, became an elementary school teacher, had a beautiful baby girl and then got cervical cancer. Stephanie died on January 11, 2008 at the age of 28. Kelly’s heart was broken.

If you would like to read Stephanie’s story and learn more about stupid cervical cancer, go to http://www.feelteal.org/. You know how pink symbolizes breast cancer? Teal is for cervical cancer.

As most of you know, I am an insurance agent with Aflac. We sell cancer insurance which has a benefit for the vaccine for cervical cancer, Gardasil. Each time I make a presentation and mention the vaccine benefit, I tell Steph’s story. It’s my little way of helping the cause. I walk in the Feel Teal Race/Walk to support Stephanie’s foundation and to remember my daughter’s friend.

Here’s how you can get involved. During the month of March (Steph’s birthday month), I will give everyone who makes a donation of $20 or more to Stephanie’s foundation via the website a very adorable Aflac Snowboard Duck. Just send me an email at wanda_holt@us.aflac.com confirming your donation and the duck is yours. The cool thing is when I purchase the ducks a donation is made to the Aflac Children’s Cancer Center in Atlanta so your gift benefits two great causes at once!

Thanks for getting involved. We never know when and through whom cancer will touch our lives. Let’s pray, race and yell for a cure for cervical cancer. Feel teal, friends, feel teal.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Being Refreshed and Renewed


It is amazing how a few days away can recharge your batteries.  As you can tell from my last post, I am sick of snow and the below normal temps in my native Tennessee.  Right now, I am in the middle of a "three weekends away" reset from winter to spring.  Last weekend I was on a Friday night to Sunday noon women's retreat in Pleasantville, Tennessee.  (Even sounds restful, doesn't it?)  I was able to get away from the stress of life, including cell phones, and get close to nature, friends and God.  Back to work and snow for three days and then Jerry and I flew out to Las Vegas on Thursday.  I don't really like Las Vegas -- not exactly a place to go to relax -- but Jerry had never been.  It took us a couple of days to just "go with the flow".  The highlight of the trip was a helicopter trip at sunrise over the Grand Canyon!  Spectacular!  On Sunday night, our last night in Las Vegas, we moved from the Luxor to The Venetian to stay in a suite some friends had reserved but had never used.  When we got to the hotel, they were overbooked so they upgraded us to a 1,400 square foot one bedroom, 1-1/2 bath, three TV suite.  The timing was perfect since we were so tired.  We have enjoyed our short, little stay in this beautiful place.

Today we are back home for three more days then we are off to East Tennessee to spend a long weekend with our grandkids.  We have not seen them since Christmas so our arms are hungry for hugs.  We are now bracing to go from 60's back to 40's with a chance of snow again this week in Tennessee.  Oh, well, at least it is now March and spring cannot be far away.

My New Style

On my birthday last year, I decided to stop coloring my hair.  I was 63.  Some people say that is too young but I had told my family I was ...