On Saturday, team “A Good Eater” participated in the Walk for Hope, a fund raiser sponsored by MaineGeneral Medical Center for their breast cancer unit. My friend Alice Johnson, my daughter Shannon, and I were the original trio for team A Good Eater, and the three of us raised $678 for the walk. I had hoped we would raise at least $300, and I was absolutely thrilled by the generosity of family, friends, and coworkers. Many of the donations were small, and in my solicitation letter I wrote,”Times are hard, I know, but ‘many hands make the task light,’ and donations of $5 or $10 really add up.” Well, they certainly did, and I so appreciate the support we got. (Overall, the walk raised $95,000.)

The day of the walk was one of those glorious October days where the sky was a brilliant blue, the air was crisp but not cold, and it was a bit windy, but not unpleasantly so. At the walk, our team expanded to include Shannon’s husband, Mike; my husband, Clif, our dog, Liam; and our friend Debbie Maddi. Down the hill we surged, with about 800 other walkers, from the parking lot of Sam’s Club to the trails at the University of Maine at Augusta. There were lots of other dogs, huge swatches of pink, women, men, boys, girls, and babies. Just as I was last year, I was reminded of how breast cancer affects everyone, not just the women involved. When you consider that 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer, then that’s a lot of women and a lot of families.

With so much good company, the walk seemed to be over in a twink, and I could have walked twice as far. However, we still had lunch to enjoy together. On Friday, I had made chicken soup, cornbread, and brownies so that team A Good Eater could have a warm meal after the walk.

We have a relatively small house, but we are lucky to have a good size dining room and an old table that can be expanded. Around the dark table we all sat, eating soup and cornbread, and we didn’t talk about breast cancer at all. Instead we talked about movies, books, and, especially, libraries. Joel, Alice’s husband, was unable to join us for the walk, but he was free to come to lunch. He made the observation that many  libraries constructed in the early 1900s were built to resemble sacred spaces, and we all nodded, agreeing how appropriate this was for a place that held books. On the other hand, Debbie Maddi spoke of the library in Ashland, Maine, where she grew up, and how even though it was over a hardware store, the library was still a beloved place. I noted that the same was true for my childhood library in Vassalboro, which was in an ice fishing shack with a small addition. Clif grew up in Bangor, where the stacks were so crowded and dangerous that patrons were not allowed in them—only the staff. But, oh what a collection!

Libraries big, libraries small. So many stories about the importance of libraries, of how they are places where everyone is welcome, and it doesn’t matter how much money you make or who your parents are. As long as you take good care of the books and return them in a timely fashion, you are welcome.

On this happy note, the meal ended, and we all agreed that this chicken soup luncheon should become a tradition after future Walks for Hope.

“And next year we’ll all bring something,” Alice said. “So that you don’t have to do all the cooking.”

Righto!