Last night in class I got an assignment to write a blog about an event I had attended here at Southwestern. Great, I thought. That is just great. What in the world am I going to write about? So I thought back and the most recent event that I attended was Relay for Life. I had not ever done Relay for Life before so I thought, “what the heck why not? Well as time went on I didn’t really want to do Relay because I wanted to go home. I talked to my mom and told her that I didn’t want to participate in the Relay because I wanted to come home. She told me that I was being selfish and I needed to participate in the Relay and have a good attitude while doing it. So, 6:30 p.m. on Friday came too early and after getting ready, I traveled down to the Wellness Center where the Relay was being held. I walked in and was shocked to find the Wellness Center was packed with various booths and different groups on campus and around Weatherford. I found the Orientation Leader's area and helped set up. We had decided to do spray-on tattoos.
As we were setting up, kids started coming by and wanting a tattoo. We were having technical difficulties with the air pressure on the machine, which made the color nonexistent. Once we got that fixed we were ready for business and boy did we get business! We had two stations set up and were steady with many individuals for at least an hour. I didn’t feel comfortable using the tattoo gun, so I held the stencil and another OL, Heather, sprayed. During this time my friend Kadie signed us up for times to walk the Relay. We helped with the tattoo booth until it was time to walk.
When the time came, we went upstairs on the track and started to walk the Relay for Life. It was a long 30 minutes but Kadie and I talked so it wasn’t too horrible. Once we were done walking, we went back downstairs to help with the tattoo booth again. After a couple of hours, it was time for us to walk again. This time Kadie had signed us up to walk for an hour. I seriously thought there was no way I could walk for that long of a period. Then I got to thinking about something one of the speakers had said earlier, “Cancer is a disease that never sleeps and never lets you rest.” Okay, I thought, there are thousands of people out there that are suffering with cancer and have to attend daily chemo and radiation treatments. Also, so many people that are stuck in a hospital bed or a wheel chair would love to be able to have the strength to walk. I decided to suck it up and walk for all the people in the world that couldn’t. I am so glad I did because not only did Kadie and I become closer, as we had so much time to talk, but we walked for such a great cause and really learned a lot during the experience.
I ended up walking a total two and a half rewarding hours. When the night was done and the Relay was over, I felt as though I had accomplished something and contributed to something that was bigger than me. It was a long night that was filled with a lot of laughter and sweat but it was well worth the experience. I am planning on doing Relay for Life again next year and the years to come.
The Custer County Relay for Life is usually in April. Many student organizations from SWOSU participate in the annual Relay for Life.
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