Pink Sweat Bands for Breast Awareness Month

This morning my nephew Robert had a basketball game. When I went to their house before the game, Robert opened the door and put his wrists in front of my face showing me his pink sweat bands and said, breast awareness month, our coach got them for us.

I was so proud of him, and more his coach. I'm not sure what he told the team if anything more than it was a symbol for showing support to fight breast cancer, but he got them all to wear pink sweat bands, and for 11 and 12 year old boys, that's a big deal.

This past June Robert graduated from grammar school and for graduation the boys were told to wear pastel colored shirts with collars and a tie. The choice of shirt colors were pink, purple, blue, yellow, green, and grey and white included. Robert chose grey. There was no way he would have chosen anything else except the white. There was no way he'd wear any of the other colors, an absolutely ridiculous thought.

I for one love when a man wears a pink or purple shirt.

I wanted to take a picture of him and his teammates, again I know asking him was being an annoying aunt, making Robert feel so not cool having me even talk to him, but I had to get a picture of him in the pink sweat bands, which I did from across the court. I'll bust his chops about it for a few years and then when he's old enough to really understand, I'll tell him how proud I was of him for wearing those pink sweat bands today, how important it was to show support for something so important, even if it means wearing pink. My grandmother Naomi, Robert's great grandmother, died very young from breast cancer, years before I was born, my Aunt Libby only a teenager, something that God forbid might affect other women in my family. I'm proud of all those boys wearing their pink sweat bands today.

I saw Robert later in the evening, still in his basketball uniform, no pink sweat bands though, and I asked where they were. Again he gave me that look, you're not being cool Aunt Tricia. He shrugged it off and said, I don't know, I gave them to someone. One of the kids playing in the street asked him what I said and Robert told him, nothing, no big deal. He's 11, that's what I want him to think about breast awareness month, I hope he and so many more young children never have to know what a big deal it is, until unfortunately it becomes time to grow up and face so many hard facts about life, one of which my father constantly reminded me of...life's not fair little girl, who ever told you it was.