Lesson 1) "Never Sit, Never Silent, Never Leave Early."

My oldest brother said this lesson to me.  He's at the same college I am, only as a Grad student while I'm just a lowly undergrad.  He's pretty awesome, and his group of friends are ALMOST as cool as my own.  We have a pretty solid brother/sister relationship, one that I think a lot of siblings would probably be jealous over- we can't help it, we're awesome.


I was excited about my first football game at college, and told my brother exactly where I would be sitting and who I was going with. He told me to enjoy myself- the sun was shining, the air was crisp, and it was a team we were favored to beat.
It was horrible.  Though it was still summer, by the time kick-off came, the rain was pouring, the wind was howling, and the temperature had dropped about 20 degrees.  Just before the end of the game, my friends couldn't take it any longer and we headed back to the dorm.  The day got even worse when we LOST to the opposing school that was not even in our division.  I was crushed and sent an exasperated "WHAT???" text to my brother, hoping he would vent with me.  All I got in response was a quickly typed "Never sit, never silent, never leave early.  It's a lesson to learn quickly."


At the time, I thought he was just talking about being a loyal fan.  I didn't realize that he was actually giving me a means of proving my worth throughout my first semester.  
It's not easy to make a good first impression on people, and it's even harder when you're also leaving home for the first time, running to the wrong classroom, and trying to remember where the dining hall is.  I didn't do that great a job my first go around.  The personality I gave off for the first two weeks of school was a shy little girl who was happy being a follower.  I'm shocked and ashamed I acted so- I was never like that before in my life.  I'm a big girl, with big hair, and an even bigger personality.  I had sat silently, and pretty much checked out early when it came to really being a part of the scene.  The day after that awful football game, I looked my texts searching for something else, and found my brother's message again.  After looking it over a few times, I knew I had messed up, and dang it- I was going to try again.  I began to speak up, tell people what I wanted to do for the weekend, and here are MY jokes, aren't they funny?  Here's who I really am- hope you like her 'cause she's all I got.  I was suddenly so much happier, and I actually felt that lightness that authors often gift their characters.  I made some really close friends really quickly, once that I was comfortable with myself again, I was comfortable with these new kids too (who became my Fantastic 500).


I did apply my brother's advice to football games, as instructed, and they are wild and crazy when you get involved!  Tailgating became a huge thing to look forward to, and losing your voice became a sign of epic cheering!  I'll never really know whether he meant what he said to me to be so deep or not, but I'm sharing it with you because I believe it's something we can live by.  Never sit when there's something, or someone, to stand up for.  Never silent when there's a wrong, or a field goal.  Never leave early, there just might be something you won't want to miss.


Curl Girl, out!