Day 11- Wake Up Wilmington!

Two weeks ago, today, I was walking across the stage in the Pensacola Civic Center, shaking my principal's hand, and receiving my diploma. This is unreal for me to think about because here I am, nearly eight hundred miles away, riding my bike across the country. When I think about where I am now, sometimes it is hard for me to see the whole picture, like when I am riding my bike. Sometimes I ride with my attention low to make sure the road just ahead of me is clear. When I ride like this, I get restless and bored with riding. It is not until I look up towards the clouds and sky and the road beyond the horizon that I get the true joy out of riding because it is only then that I am getting the whole picture.

The Believe in the Cure Cycling Tour, itself, began as a ride to raise awareness about Hepatitis B and to raise money for finding a cure for Hepatitis B, and so far, it has been quite successful. This ride, for me, was successful as soon as we left Pensacola, but we have come so much further. From being chased by dogs to dead car batteries, muscle cramps to broken rear derailleurs, we have run the gamut of problems one could encounter, but we have pedaled on. This captures what I have felt "Believe in the Cure" truly means. Like I said before, the money raised is going towards the Hepatitis B Foundation's mission on finding a cure for Hepatitis B, but this takes time. (As all things take time.) Will the cure come in my lifetime ? My children's lifetime ? How can one be certain ?

I feel as if "Believe in the Cure" is a misnomer. I feel as if it should be something more along the lines of "Believe in your heart and mind" because that is, for now, the cure to Chronic Hepatitis B, and many other chronic illnesses that plague us. This is the only thing that I can be certain of; that if I am determined enough to wake up and live each day in ways that would "make the mountains glad"; that if I have the strength to make a difference with each moment; that if I believe in my heart and my mind that I am not broken, but healthy and even cured, who will tell me that I am not ? Nothing, now, could tell me otherwise. This is the whole picture. Pedaling on when the air gets thick and the hills get steep, when the temperatures start to rise and your muscles begin to ache. This is what the Believe in the Cure Cycling Tour truly means.

Pedal on.

Love,
John and Jamaal.