Relay for Life

I got up at 6:00am. After puttering around a bit, I drove to my son's high school and picked him up. There had been an event during the night that involved students, I believe in teams of four, having someone from their team walking or running around an indoor track. It was a 12-hour event, and students solicited pledges for their endurance and effort, and all funds raised went to the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life.

My wife had suggested to my son that he take a sleeping bag along, so he could catch a cat nap or two. He insisted that no-one would be allowed to do that because it would be cheating. Her reasoning was that probably only one of the team members would be on the track at any given time and that the rest could relax or sleep until it was their turn. His position was that there would be no real sacrifice involved if that were the case, so no-one, surely, would allow that sort of half-hearted participation.

That, by the way, is how I would expect things to be. Why do things half-way?

That, I guess, is not how things were done. My wife was right. Everyone brought sleeping bags, except my son and possibly a few other literalists.

Was my son an idiot? Some might think so. I don't. The British saying: "In for a penny, in for a pound," describes his attitude. And mine, too. If you're going to do something, do it all the way.

I guess the event was successful. Judging by the number of cars queued up in the school parking lot, waiting to pick up the kids, there were a lot of participants and therefore, I expect, a lot of money pledged.

My son is now catching up on his sleep. In doing so, he is skipping German School, where he normally spends his Saturday mornings. I'm usually pretty strict about not missing school, but I guess I'll let him get away with it, just this once.