Two days ago I woke up on Wednesday morning and looked out my window.  It was gray and foggy, I thought, "Great! What a beautiful day to be sleeping outside in a cardboard box."  I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom to shower and get ready (I was running late for my first class).  When I was finished with my shower and dressed I looked out the window again.  The fog had lifted, but it was as gray as ever... and now it was raining! I got in my car, stopped to get gas, and went to class.  After class it was still raining.  I drove from class to work and after 4 hours at work it was STILL raining.

I started to wonder if sleeping outside was the best thing for me to do.  I was feeling a little under the weather already and I had just gotten the flu vaccination which meant I would be more prone to catching something.  I texted Sam asking her if there was a rain plan for Shanty Town or if we were all just going to die of hypothermia... she said these was no plan B and that Shanty Town was still on.  I drove home to pack my stuff and thought about the cold rain all around me... it would be miserable to sleep outside in it.

When I got home, I did some thinking.  It was close to the end of the semester and it wouldn't be very good if I got more sick than I already was right before exams... that would be disastrous.  Not to mention the fact that Thanksgiving was coming up and right after that my birthday... it would be horrible to be sick on my favorite holiday and my birthday.  Sam let me know that she had just gotten the call not to put the boxes out yet and she told me to just wait and come for the Soup Kitchen at 9:30.  I told her I thought that was a good idea, but that I was having second thouhgts about staying the night.

Around 8:45 I drug myself out o fmy cozy room and into my cold car and drove to the Mount.  Camus Ministry and there Shanty members were in Seton lobby constructing their Shantys.  I mingled and floated around taking pictures for Dateline.  Then it came time for the Soup Kitchen and the game.  There was vegetable beef soup for everyone and slices of white bread... after everybody had eaten their fill it was time for the game to be explained.

The game was called Single Room Occupancy, and it was quite difficult to understand at first, therefore I will not even attempt to explain it here.  It was quite fun though.  I followed Samantha around trying to keep her from dying... and it worked.  When the game was over everyone went back to the Cornona Room and counted up their points.  Sam fell somewhere in the low end of the middle (but hey, at least she wasn't dead!) and Jeff Ward ended up winning.  The game was supposed to highlight certain aspects of real life and I think everyone who participated got some meaning out of it.

I stayed long enough to get a picture of Sam and Molly in their Shanty and a few of the bonfire and reflection, but then I said I needed to go.  Part of me wishes I had stayed to sleep over, but part of me is really glad that I didn't stay because I probably would've gotten even more sick.  I was presnt for enough of the event to realize just what I had to be thankful for... and just in time for Thanksgiving too!!

So as you may have read I have been an aquatics junkie for the last 10 years of my life.  When I was a child I used to play in the sinks instead of washing my hands.  That is where it all started.  It all started with me having to take swimming lessons because we had pools on both sides of us when I lived out in California as a child.  (I grew up in Cincinnati and moved here when I was 6 turning 7).

Well here at the Mount I came in thinking oh great the pool was covered up by the wrestling room.  Well I can get it back! NOT!  I wanted to start a water polo team here at the Mount but there is just too much working against us.  Recently I have noticed that I have been giving up on things I worked so hard at in the past and I need to change that.  So I have decided that I am going to talk once again with a my friend who’s sister was the girls coach this past season.

We are going to have a hard road ahead of us.  It is a sport that we would be playing against schools that are much bigger than we are.  One of my coaches played for University of Dayton’s club team and we had a dual against them.  So they went easy on us teaching us more so than playing then all of a sudden they started these hoots and hollers and they were swimming like no other.  Mind you these are big guys!!!

Somehow I am going to have to generate some interest here at the Mount and the community.  My thought was to open it to other colleges in the area but I do not know how that would work out.  We have no pool on campus nor do we have a pool that we use off campus.  This is something I believe in strongly.  I feel I can do it.

The lesson here is to not let college end your activities that you were a participant in while you were going through your high school career.  I worked too hard to let it all go.  Maybe I can go and help coach at my old high school.  First off I have to get into shape no matter what I do.  Staying healthy is going to help me in and out of school.

I thought also of starting an Active Minds chapter here at the Mount.  That is a strictly collegiate program that helps to educate people to the signs of mental health issues as well as give people resources to seek help for their issues.  It is a great thing going to the Mount.  I like to think that the opportunities choices and fun is endless here.