Relay for Life

This Friday was the UMSL Relay for Life. First of all, thank you to all of my readership who helped (financially or with prayers) -- I know you guys are reading this. A huge thanks!

This Relay was originally scheduled as a 12-hour event, although Relays are often up to 24 hours. However, Thursday afternoon, the UMSL Relay committee brought the event indoors and changed the time to only six hours, due to the severe thunderstorms that were predicted. While I wish the Relay had been longer and out of doors, they made a wise decision, and I felt for the committee, making all these last-minute changes.

The idea behind the Relay, for those of my readers who did not hear about it already, is that you have a team that raises money for the American Cancer Society. The team then camps out around a track and relays -- has at least one team member walking the track at all points in time. The host provides music and fun, but also facilitates more serious moments, such as the luminaria, where everyone pauses to remember those who have lost the battle and support those who are battling cancer.

Ana and I arrived first to stake out a campsite. The evening started slowly as we... waited. Eventually, however, the rest of the 6 pack arrived. We had figured that we'd all start out together, and then take turns back at our table to eat, rest, etc. Instead, we found that we all just kept going. We walked the inside of the student center: around its center escalators, down one hallway and back, down a second hallway and back, repeat. A talented DJ blasted music from the stage on the lower floor. The ends of the hallways often lost the music, and a couple guitarists down one created a sort of musical schizophrenia that bothered me at first, but that I got used to.

As it turns out, we didn't drop downstairs one by one as we got tired. Instead, we kept walking, skipping, and dancing down the hallways, gaining energy from the music and from each other. In case you ever decide to try it, the Electric Slide is a bit of a challenge to do while you're walking down a hallway. We ran piggy-back, we played war, we salsa-ed. We all kept going -- for the entire 6 hours.

I enjoyed the dancing, upbeat bits more than the somber bits. Not just because the somber bits were, of course, less "fun," but because the ceremony of them fell a little flat. Luminaries don't light up the same way with electric tea lights, inside, and a "lap of silence" doesn't have the effect of silence if there is music, however contemplative.

When we left for home, I was exhausted. When we got home, I realized that as crazy as I had been for walking for 6 hours, I made the right choice in choosing not to sit down. My feet had the chance to tell me exactly how much they hated me for the long walk.