Imagine not being able to move more than a foot away from someone else without having metal dig into your wrist for 24 hours. That’s how I spent my Labor Day weekend with senior Aaron Houck.

A few weeks ago, I was watching YouTube videos about two people being handcuffed for an entire day. I found the whole thing very funny and proposed the idea to Houck over FaceTime one night. We both agreed that it would be a great video for his channel, as well as something to do over the long weekend.

We started the adventure at Taco Bell. I was incredibly hesitant to put the cuffs on once I realized that people were going to be looking at us, and probably laughing. After what seemed like hours of persuading, he finally got me to put them on, and we walked into the restaurant with our wrists connected.

Nobody said anything, but we certainly received a lot of confused stares and snickers. Ordering and paying for our food was a challenge, as the one person had to constantly mimic the other’s movements in order to complete simple actions. 

Later that night, we decided to play Twister. My wrist felt raw and irritated from the metal, and I was quickly starting to get tired of him. Moving around was difficult for me because my legs are much shorter than his, and I wasn’t used to walking so fast. Twister was even harder, because we had to adjust our positions every single time the other moved a limb.

The next day, we headed to Put-in-Bay with our handcuffs on. I was ready to be done with the challenge, but I still had a whole day ahead of me. I spent the majority of my time there trying to hide my cuffed hand away from the view of others because I was afraid of what they might think. I mean, what would you say if you saw two people walking around with handcuffs on?

The heat mixed with the pain that my right wrist felt was making me extremely agitated. By the time seven o’clock rolled around, I had never been more ready to take them off. It was a relief when the metal dropped away from my skin and I was my own person again. It’s easy to take personal space for granted when you still have it.

All in all, I would not recommend handcuffing yourself to anyone. It’s not worth the irritation, even if that person is your best friend. I couldn’t be paid enough money to put myself through that again.