Support

One of my frosh (freshers, orientees, whatever. To me, they're my frosh. Take that!) facebooked me today. I hadn't spoken to her in years, but she needed help with an essay she was writing. I get the vibe it was due about 20 minutes after the message went out.

I helped her as best I could, and was rewarded with a "Thanks! I knew you'd come through for me!"

Nothing could have made me feel better. That's exactly what I wanted, still want, to be. All that time, at camp, at leadership conferences, at frosh week, I wanted to be someone who, years after the fact, can be counted on to come through.

In high school, I always thought it was a bit cheesy and hypocritical when we'd do a leadership conference, form a bond, and a couple weeks later it was all forgotten. One year, my group's leader was a popular, yet slightly icy girl a few years older than me. All weekend she was really sweet and open. I really came to admire and respect her. The Monday after the conference, she pretty much blanked me in the hallway. I felt betrayed. And I never, ever wanted to do that to anyone else. When applying to lead at the same conference a couple years later, I even made a big point of saying that in my essay. I believed that these leadership conferences were more about an attitude than playing nice for a weekend. I didn't get the gig, but as I said a couple days ago, I think that kept me humble. I didn't want to be a popular girl who'd blank people in the halls. I wanted to be present, available, someone who could always be counted on no matter what.

I'm glad I'm that person to someone. And I'm glad I have people who, years after the fact, are still looking out for me too.




Pulling together..