Anymore, when I update the blog here, I always start by saying something like, "Well, it's been awhile since I last posted...."

And that's true again!

Last weekend (May 17-18) was the 15th annual Relay For Life of Moon Area (near the Pittsburgh airport). All the stressing over the past several months had finally met its match.

We had 22 teams. Had $30,000 going into the event. Had over 30 survivors.

And, oh yeah, we had rain. And lots and lots and lots of it. We could have built Noah's Ark, sold it to him and made soooooooooooooooo much money for Relay. lol.

(Note: It's rained for 14 of the 15 Relays.)

The good news is that we were able to light the luminary for the Luminaria Ceremony this year. Last year was so awful.

And I was really proud of the ceremony, too. It was the second year we didn't read names, and while some people still would have preferred that, many people said how wonderful the ceremony was.

We didn't do "HOPE" in the one section of bleachers like I had wanted. We didn't have enough people helping. And because we were fearful of rain, we didn't light the candles until like five-10 minutes before the ceremony. Needless to say, they didn't get lit by 9 p.m., but it actually looked really awesome seeing them be lit as the ceremony went on.

It included some poems from various Relay guides, songs and blocks of speech that I created. And for the second year in a row, my friend who is a reporter at the Pittsburgh CBS station served as the narrator to the ceremony.

Here's a list of poem titles and songs that I used:

• Song: "This Is The Moment" from the musical "Jekyll & Hyde"
• Poem: A "Hope" poem I sort of rearranged
• "Stand" by Rascal Flatts
• Song: "On Eagle's Wings" by Josh Groban
• Poem: "It's Just One Little Candle"
• Poem: "Every cell in my body......"
• Song: "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion
• Poem: "I Give You This One To Keep....."
• Poem: "In a Darkened Room...."
• Song: "Will I?" from the musical "Rent"
• Song: "Champion" by Oleander (It followed a message about survivors)
• Song: "Amazing Grace" instrumental. We passed out lyrics of the song and the entire audience joined in.
• Silent lap where EVERYONE joined in.
• Following that we played "Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World," "I Run For Life" and "Ordinary Superstar" from the MTV show "The Hills"

If anyone wants to see my Luminaria Ceremony script, it's attached to this post!