Tuesday, February 7, 2012

On not wearing red

Friday, February 3 was "Wear Red Day." If you use Facebook at all, you probably saw it all over the place. I did anyway. Starting Thursday my friends posted links and photos and status updates relating to it.

While this is specifically about heart disease in WOMEN, this is an important issue to me. My grandmother died of congestive heart failure. My dad died of congestive heart failure. Statistically speaking, it is quite likely that this WILL be something that I'll face.

Seeing all of those reminders, I went to my closet on Friday. Red is one of my favorite colors because it's so bright and cheery, and it liberally peppers my closet. Or it did. The previous weekend, I had completely cleaned out everything that didn't fit and had passed them to a friend. I now own exactly one red shirt, and it was dirty. Unless I planned to do an unexpected load of laundry (which I really didn't have time to do), no red for me. I ended up choosing that thrift store shirt, which fits perfectly and is one of my favorites. I was satisfied.

And yet, there were a couple of raised eyebrows and a comment of "I would think you of all people [due to family history] would be wearing red today."

That stung. I am fully aware of my family history. I am the one, after all, who misses my dad every single day. I am the one who still misses my grandmother after 28 years. Believe me, heart disease is part of my reality every. single. day. I don't forget.


No, I did not wear red. Wearing red does nothing except put red on the outside of my body. In reality, it does nothing.

What did I do to raise awareness for heart disease? I did 40 minutes of cardio, and I walked 5 miles. And my children knew exactly what I was doing and, more importantly, why.