It happened on a sparkling, sunlit day on Key Biscayne. Paddling like a maniac, covered in salt water and sweat, muscling screaming in protest, I was bitten by the dragon.
 
After a mere half hour of paddling with the world class Save Our Sisters Dragon Boat Racing Team in Miami, I realized that while my seemingly healthy body might never be the same, my spirit had burst open and was sparkling like the waves dancing around me.
 
Did I mention that the forty women paddling the two boats are breast cancer survivors? And that in less than three years they've gone from a "little team of cancer women" to world class competitors who regularly "kick the butts" of co-ed teams?
 
I'll admit that I had no idea what dragon boat racing was about when I showed up at the Miami Boat Club. I was drawn by the passion and romance the name conjured up for me. So when realized the scope of what was going to happen, my respect and admiration for these women took a big step up. Picture forty women, in pairs side by side, led a steersperson and drummer, paddling in perfect synchronization. They are flying through the water in a 500 lb 40' x 4' Hong Kong dragon boat that can flip over if one person shifts their weight too far. I was fortunate enough to be a guest in that boat last month. Wow!
 
These women aren't waiting to pursue their passion for life, they're doing it now. 
 
As I put on my life jacket and grabbed a paddle, my gut churning with apprehension and fear of failing, I asked myself why on earth I was doing this. And I realized that I was doing it because it made me happy to be the company of these women. It was a way of stepping up into two challenges I've set for myself this year - to live my life in bigger way and to do it now.
 
As my spirit was soaring around the sparkling water I thought of the hundreds of survivors that I know who, like the Save Our Sisters team and I, have faced death and were inspired to change because of it. Small or large, we've chosen the dreams and concerns that get our time and energy. We don't have time to wait for life to give us what we want or to make the world a better place. So we go after it and create wonderful things that serve us, our loved ones, our community and the world, like the Save Our Sisters team is doing.   
 
As I write this article, the Save Our Sisters team is racing at the international finals in Tampa. I don't need to know where they stand in rank, because they're already the biggest winners to me.
 
Their dragon bit me and I'm living a bigger, more joyful life because of it. Do you dream of something bigger in your life? Why are you waiting?