Greatest weekend of the whole damn year

If you know me on any sort of personal level, you know that my life kinda always goes at "full speed ahead," hence my need to sprinkle in self care days (see my last post if you're confused about that there reference). A few weeks ago, I hopped on over to the airport to catch a red eye back to the east coast after work. I had a pretty crappy delay in Philly (thanks to a problem with the toilets, so yes, pun intended) but eventually made it to my final destination, State College, PA, without too too many hiccups. Oh but why were you in State College, Al? Glad you asked! I was there for the greatest weekend of the whole damn year..

Now, I'm not talking about Christmas or a birthday or a graduation or any of that.. this celebration weekend debatably trumps all of those. I'm talking about THON, a 46 hour dance marathon celebrating our year long fundraising efforts in the fight against pediatric cancer. The money that Penn State students/alumni raise goes to the Four Diamonds Fund which allows children who are diagnosed with the monster of cancer (an their families) to just focus on getting well. It funds research, treatment, oddball expenses, etc. The whole goal is that one day we will dance in celebration, but until then, we'll keep on dancing for a cure.

Speaking of dancing, THON weekend is partially so special to me because it is something that my college dance team/club, Penn State Dance Alliance, was super involved in. Beyond fundraising, we created relationships with our "THON sisters" (organizations have the opportunity to be paired with a Four Diamonds Child, but our pairings were girls who were our age, so we unofficially called them our sisters!). Additionally, we would choreograph a piece each year and perform it on the stage at some point during the weekend. As an alumna, I so look forward to coming back as a "proud dance mom" cheering on my girls. I will say, I felt particularly old this time coming back and watching them because I don't know any of them personally! The freshman that I met when I was a senior have since graduated! While this lack of knowing people translated beyond the dance team and I didn't know many people walking across the floor (a harsh contrast to back when I "danced" --meaning I stood for the full 46 hours representing my dance org-- I couldn't make it from one side of the BJC to the other without running into someone I knew every few steps!) I did still run into a few familiar faces.. and made plenty of new friends. It's fun when you already have a default thing in common, and I loved sharing my "why" with people while learning theirs. We all do it #FTK or For The Kids, but everyone has their own personal connection.

More recently, my connection has been the German family. Kirsten German is celebrating 20 years cancer free this summer (WHOOP WHOOP!!) and this was her 10th THON weekend!!! (which is extra special because it was THON's 50th anniversary, lots of milestones this year!). Kirsten and I first met my freshman year because of an org/Four Diamonds Family pairing situation and stayed close over the years thanks to being close in proximity as her family is in Harrisburg and I spent senior year and my first three years as a nurse in Hershey! I have become a bit of an honorary member of her family, especially during the greatest weekend of the whole damn year.

I briefly mentioned earlier about running into familiar faces, and oh let me tell you, even though there weren't a ton, the few that I ran into made me smile from ear to ear. One that I have started to look forward to every year is my girl, Mary Anne. MA is a clinical instructor/professor in the college of nursing and she played such a huge role in shaping me into the nurse I am today. Two years ago, before THON had to make a virtual appearance thanks to darn 'rona, I helped out at the med table where dancers come to take their scheduled daily medications or PRNs/as needed's such as tylenol, ibuprofen, tums, eye drops, etc. Nursing students run the table and get to practice medication administration with the assistance of faculty and alumni (which is where I come in). I felt very official two years ago, being on the flip side of graduation, but felt even more like a celebrity this year when I was chatting with some of the students about being a travel nurse. It was so neat to see them get so excited about their nursing futures, and I truly hope they never lose that.

THON as a whole tends to put rose colored glasses on everyone's outlook, make people extra excited for the future, and put smiles on faces of people no matter how sad their heart might be. It is such a light for so many families and students and I am just so thankful that I was able to attend in person this year, and truly believe I can make this work every year. It is in fact, the greatest weekend of the whole. damn. year. (if you're still confused about what THON is and why I love it so much, click that link, watch the recap from this year, and I almost guarantee you'll catch yourself smiling from ear to ear)