Let me introduce you to Sasha.  Ok, this really isn’t Sasha, but Sasha had a similar swimsuit on when I met her.  She looked so cute in the ruffled skirt.  Can you guess what her favorite color is?  Red.  How did I miss that?

Friday night I was painting faces at a 4^th of July celebration.  I decided this is one way that I could raise funds form my TNT event in September.  My daughter, Heather, always loved having her face painted so I thought I’d give it a try.

When I first met Sasha I wondered about her short silvery hair.  Some girls like short hair, but this was really short.  I didn’t ponder it very long because I was busy helping her choose what design she would like painted on her check.  She chose a stencil with one big heart and two little hearts. Above the hearts was the word, LOVE.  I then asked, “What color would you like?”  She responded firmly, "Red!" How could I have missed it?  She was wearing a red swimsuit with little white polka dots. Red was obviously her favorite color.

One design was not enough.  She also wanted a design on her arm, and then “BFF” on her foot.  As I painted the design on her arm she nonchalantly shared that she had had Lymphoma.  The haircut now made sense.  This little nine year old has been through chemotherapy.  She didn’t talk much about it, but was more interested in her designs, all done in RED.

We talked about Sasha’s BFF and her final design was done.  With a big smile she said thank you and bounced off with her brother to enjoy the evening’s fireworks.  Me, I sat humbled, thankful to have made a young girl smile.

Sasha is my personal hero as I prepare and raise funds for my ride in September.  As I climbed hills on Saturday, I thought of that smile and it encouraged me forward!