This year I participated in Relay for Life. I was doing the first shift, 11-1, for the WA Honors Societies team, and
I went by myself. Since it was the first shift, I stood around for about an hour listening to someone thank all the corporate
sponsors and other such things. It ended up starting at about 12:15, and in case you dont know, the first lap of the Relay
is walked by all the people that had battled or are currently battling cancer. Also, from the minute I got there, I realized
that I had no idea where the actual track was, because the route wasnt an oval shape, and there were lots of side-tracks that
brought you around to all the tents and stuff.
Perhaps you can see what Im thinking at this point: when am I supposed to start walking, and where? For some reason I
felt like I was the only idiot there that didnt know what the hell he was doing. The last thing I wanted to do was to start
walking during the "survivors lap" and have someone be like "Eric you dont have cancer get off the track."
So, at some point I decided that the thing to do was to just ask someone. If they didnt know, at least then Id know I
wasnt the only person who didnt. My eyes fell upon a pretty girl who was by herself, so I figured this would be a good person
to ask, and also I could make it part of the experiment.
I asked somewhat timidly, "Um, do you know if this is still the survivors lap?"
I was somewhat relieved by her response, "I really dont know, actually I got here and started walking at 11 and then
just now theyre like 'ok we're going to start now' and I was like aw man I just walked for an hour!"
"Oh, right. Yeah, Im really just afraid of getting on too soon and having them be like 'you dont have cancer, get the
hell out of here!"
She kind of laughed and said "Yeah, I dont know." We stood for a few seconds before I asked "What's your name?"
"Amanda," she replied.
"Im Eric." I said in turn. She seemed friendly and didnt find it strange at all that I was talking to her.
"And this is Madison," she said referring to the little girl hiding behind her. I hadnt even seen her, and I realized
I couldnt really tell how old Amanda was, but I determined that it was most likely that this was her daughter. "Are you going
to say hi to Eric?" The little girl said nothing. "She's shy," Amanda explained, "and a little snot sometimes, too." I laughed
a little in response. "Do you wanna go to the tent?" She asked Madison. At this point she started walking away and said "Alright,
it was nice meeting you!"
"You too," I replied, "Ill talk to ya later."
This conversation made a nice contrast with the previous one. This girl seemed to have more of a "hey we both have no
one to talk to and dont know what we're doing, so why not chat" kind of attitude. I get the distinct impression that Amanda
is much more down to earth and Alex. I also get the impression that Amanda has a lot more friends.
