It was an amazing day today at the Western and Southern Tennis Tournament. It was the men's finals...so we actually got to see Nadal warming up! Super exciting!
We were very busy handing out sunscreen for the Andy Caress Melanoma Foundation www.andycaress.org. We got to meet his family- what a really neat group of people. We were honored to be able to work with them today, and hope to be able to do so again in the future. Visit the site and learn about Andy's story and see what a great guy he was.
I handed some sunscreen to a group of young ladies with Lake College Tennis t-shirts on. One of the gals took it, then recognized the name on the logo on our shirts and the sunscreen packet. She is from Colorado, and Andy had been her tennis coach there. She is playing tennis at college in Illinois. It was an amazing moment for me- such a small world. Here is this young girl who actually knew Andy-- and she is here in Cincinnati watching world class tennis. And we meet. I made sure that she went to the booth to talk with Andy's family, they were so happy to meet her.
Hubby said that he was able to use his recent surgery as an example several times when men said they didn't want the sunscreen, but handed it to their wives. One said he was 45 and didn't need it; Hubby responded by saying that he didn't think he did either at 47, and pulled up his sleeve to show his scar from surgery, saying that he just had a run in with melanoma.
One group with 2 teen girls stopped and the mom and dad took sunscreen. The mom told the girls to get some, they didn't want to. I told the girls that they didn't want to end up like me, I have a big scar from melanoma. The one girl asked if my scar was on my leg- to which I replied, "yes...". She went on to say that she thought her parents knew me...we talked further and yes, we do know each other. She knew my story. Then both teens took some sunscreen :)
This family does so much for melanoma awareness and research. I am so glad that we were able to connect with them. I am also so thankful that I got to spend the day doing something so important, with my family by my side.
Not everyone wanted the sunscreen. But, many did and many kept saying what a great idea it was and thanked us for having it. The booth had big gallon size bottles of sunscreen, and hundreds of folks stopped there to put on sunscreen on their way in to the match. It's interesting to watch people and to see their reactions to the offer of sunscreen. Many couldn't believe it was free.
I cannot wait to do this again next year. Thanks, Caress family, for letting us be a small part of what you do. It truly was amazing!
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