The Health Scare: Three Years Later

Today three years ago was a wake up call for me. It all started at my doctor’s appointment. I was getting a referral to have a bump on my head removed. While there, I found out that my blood pressure was off the charts. My doctor thought it was best that I check to Excela Hospital in Greensburg. That beautiful day turned into a horrible day as I was sitting in the emergency room awaiting word on what was wrong with me. Eventually, I found out that I was going to have to stay overnight or until my numbers became more manageable. That one night turned into four nights before I was released on the day before Easter.

Eventually I was able to see the dermatologist and get my cyst removed and before long, it disappeared. I visited the cardiologist and bought a blood pressure monitor and took a stress test. It came back good. While COVID was the beginning of the end of my employment at my then-present job, the health scare accelerated my pending exit. I’ve been able to manage my blood pressure and get my numbers down. I still drink coffee but only once or twice a day. I still drink soda, but only in moderation. I watch my sodium intake, but sometimes it’s not that easy. Do I always find the time to exercise? It’s not easy but making the effort to get in my car and drive there is more important than the numbers themselves.

Today wrapped up the Division round of contests in Toastmasters. I wasn’t sure I was going to make this one due to my schedule but I was able to catch a break and get Thursday and Friday night off so that I could attend the contest. For me, I attended three out of four competitions in the divisional round. This matches my attendance from two years ago. Last year I only attended one contest and it was the Division A contest which was held at the same venue that it was last year.

I was a part of McKeesport Toastmasters for four years, serving as club coach for an extended period of time there. I’m grateful for Faith Lutheran Church opening up its doors for us and grateful that this club was in the community for so long. I was one of the coaches that led the club to Distinguished during the 2018-2019 Toastmasters year. Thus, it was one of the last goals that I needed to achieve the highest honor in Toastmasters, the Distinguished Toastmaster award. I’m grateful for the friendships I picked up along the way as I belonged to the club.

While the church will remain open for its congregation, McKeesport Toastmasters has ended its run after more than seven decades. Today’s Division Contest was the final event sponsored by the club. The club was a pillar in the community, serving the city of McKeesport and the neighboring communities for 73 years (1951-2024).

On this bittersweet day, nevertheless, we all watched a great contest.

The Dinner Series Returns: A Look Ahead to April

The Cute Coffee and Fish Sammie Tour of March ’24 concludes today with lunch at Pittsburgh institution that serves an amazing fish sandwich. I’ll discuss that more in my March recap blog along with my favorite coffee drink from Cutie’s next week. Today we look ahead to April and what it has to offer. Like me, I hope it has a lot to offer.

The 2020 series (or whatever you want to call it) returns in April after taking a week off for Easter (and this Look Ahead blog post). Next Friday’s blog goes into detail on me winning the Spirit of Toastmasters award at the 2020 Fall Symposium.

I’m planning on visiting a few Toastmaster clubs this coming week and the week after. Next Friday, I will check out the Indiana Toastmasters club. The following Tuesday (April 9), I will be visiting the Johnstown Toastmasters club. Both visits will be online via Zoom. However, I have plans to visit Johnstown in person sometime this Summer. More on that to come at a later date.

April 13 marks two years of learning a new language as I celebrate my Duolingo anniversary. I’ve tried making myself multilingual but I’ve scaled it back a bit and went back to learning Spanish and French for now. Sometimes, I get on the Math portion of the app (which is kind of beyond me but fun to relearn my math skills). On my many trips to Children’s Hospital to visit Benny, I’ve even passed the Duolingo headquarters which is located in East Liberty in Bakery Square.

I’ll return to Hogwarts on April 1 (no foolin’) as I continue Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The plan is to complete the book by April 30, and I actually will read the last chapter on that very day. A few days later I will be leaving for the Spring Conference. I’ll order Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince soon after and start reading that just before Mother’s Day. I plan to watch the movie (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) on May 5 after I’m home from my conference weekend.

The Dinner Series will resume on April 25 as Mr. Clougherty and I usually have dinner on the last Thursday of the month and his swimming season has come to an end. He will have spring training for his swimmers but it’s three days a week and less intense. We plan on having dinner at EDO Hibachi at some point this year. For the June dinner, which is my birthday month, I’d like to go to the Olive Garden. He’s flexible as to where we go and so anywhere is fine for his birthday. I’ll try to find a new spot but wherever we go we always enjoy ourselves.

Time to enjoy the Easter holiday and some good food on Sunday, as well as some good company with my cousins. But before that, tomorrow’s Division A contest. The winners go on to the District finals in May.

Hogwarts Hiatus!

I’m at the halfway point of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. With the Easter holiday here this week, that means it’s a perfect time for a break. Don’t worry as I plan on reopening the book next week when the calendar turns to April. My plan is to have the book done at the end of April (I’ll read the last chapter on April 30) and watch the movie on May 5. In the meantime, what have I been up to on my Hogwwarts Holiday?

For one, watching clips of the Harry Potter movies including the Order of the Phoenix. Also, learning that Wizarding World is a real place (located at Universal Studios) and that I might just put that on my bucket list.

Over the weekend, I put together a speech that I gave last night at Laurel Highlands Toastmasters last night on Century III mall as the iconic mall is getting ready to be demolished after having been abandoned in 2019. parking garages will be the first thing to get torn down. There is a video of drone footage of the mall from YouTuber WallieB26 that went up yesterday. Also, check out Century III Mall Memories on Facebook for more nostalgic posts on the mall. I got some good compliments on my speech and while not all of them are from Pittsburgh, most of the people felt the pain of losing the malls they used to go to.

I’ve spent time catching up on other reading as well. I read a chapter out of two of my books, including Barack Obama’s book (which I want to finish by the end of 2024) as well as my third time reading The History of Jazz. I’ll knock off a few chapters in John Stamos’ book. It may also be a good time to play some Switch and get back into Super Mario Wonder or, even planning that Spring and Summer wardrobe as I’ve been talking about for so long.

I have some plans for this blog in April and that including continuing the 2020 series once a week. No word yet on whether or not I will be doing it in May. I’ve also narrowed my post-conference plans down to two options.

1.) I’m hoping to get a hold of my fashionable sis and make brunch plans at her place, or at Waffles INCaffeinated. I’d love to make my way to Station Square sometime and eat at Tupelo Honey or even the Melting Pot and try some fondue.

2.) I might make a Market District run after the conference. I know of three or four locations in the Pittsburgh area.

We’ll see what my heart desires. Tanger was in the plans but I’ll hold off on that until my birthday week when I’m off. Maybe I’ll do Grove City instead and make a pit stop at Slippery Rock and check out my old campus.

Remembering Century III Mall!

In the old days, you probably shopped downtown at the five and dime stores. Later on, the shopping centers and malls opened up, providing shoppers with a new retail experience. Eventually open air and online shopping took over. The latter is more common now in this digital age.

For my family, they shopped in downtown McKeesport. The Eastland Shopping Center (later Eastland Mall) opened in the 1960s, thus killing downtown McKeesport. Eastland Mall was doing good and then came Century III in 1979, thus killing Eastland. Century III is doing well throughout the 1980s and 1990s, before an open air shopping mecca opens near Kennywood called the Waterfront. Eventually, online shopping becomes a thing and the Great Recession takes over, thus hurting Century III. That’s where we are today, as the mall gets ready to meet the wrecking ball.

As a child of the 80’s and 90’s, I was blessed to grow up with two great malls each within 15 minutes of where I live. Therefore, I don’t have too much to say about the good old days of Century III except for a few visits there in the late 1990’s. It’s sad reading up on how this iconic mall has deteriorated so much and has become an eyesore to anyone living in that area. However, I am grateful that Greengate Mall didn’t suffer the same fate, closing in the early 2000’s and getting razed soon after for the construction of a new shopping center with a Wal-Mart as well as other stores.

For a while, this mall held its own with other shopping destinations in the Pittsburgh area (Ross Park Mall and South Hills Village are good examples). Century III’s best days went up to the late ’90s. Even though I’m sure the Waterfront took some of their business, they were still viable through the 2000s. By the time the Great Recession hit and into the 2010’s was when Century III really went downhill. Therefore, you can’t blame the demise of this mall on the pandemic.

Dick’s Sporting Goods closed in March 2019, the Mexican restaurant moved down to Clairton Blvd. in June 2018, and JcPenney closed in October 2020. JcPenney was the last operating store in the mall and with that, Century III Mall was officially closed for good.

Here’s my six-pack of facts related to the iconic Century III Mall

  1. Century III Mall officially opened on October 24, 1979 with the first phase complete. This included JCPenney and Kaufmann’s as anchors. The second phase was complete on March 12, 1980. Anchors that opened in 1980 included Montgomery Ward, Gimbels, and Sears. Hornes took over Montgomery Wards in 1986. The Gimbels location was replaced multiple times in the 1990s and 2000s.
  2. The mall has been referenced many times by the popular YouTuber Pittsburgh Dad. A few of his videos have even been filmed at or around the iconic mall.
  3. Since becoming endangered and eventually closing in 2019, the mall has been featured in urban exploration videos on YouTube. There have been many acts of vandalism performed around the condemned property and reports of breaking and entering and arson. The mall has been featured on the news a lot since closing because of the sad state it’s in.
  4. While I don’t have many memories of Century III growing up, I was there several times a year as an employee of WIS International. Once a year, we would count the JCPenney in the late Spring or early Summer. Other stores in the mall that I’ve inventoried include American Eagle, Bath & Body Works, New York & Company, and Victoria’s Secret.
  5. One of my memorable experiences at Century III took place long after the mall became depressed. We were counting the JCPenney in May of 2018 and it took place overnight. The store had no air conditioning and took forever to get done. We had two girls start that night at the marathon event and despite the ordeal, stuck around at WIS and became two of my good friends there.
  6. The last one is not mall related, but that Century III Chevrolet commercial still lives rent free in my head. “Century III Chevrolet, Lebanon Church Road, Pittsburgh. Minutes from the mall.”

When the mall finally comes crashing down, I encourage you to remember:

1.) The good times you spent there as a teenager and seeing B-94 broadcast live from the mall in center court.

2.) All the fun back to school shopping and holiday shopping trips you made in August and in December. For the kids, going to see Santa at Christmastime.

3.) That amazing slice of pizza you had from Italian Village Pizza. The chain began at Century III in 1980.

Rest in Peace, Century III Mall, 1979-2024

The Summer That Wasn’t!

The 2020 Series continues with us in May. After eight weeks off, our office and others at WIS went back to work. It’s nothing like Spring with cold temperatures and snow flurries in the air. It feels weird going to work now as there are conditions and precautions. Masks become mandatory and temperature checks have to be done. It’s very eerie indeed and things don’t seem to be getting better. Thankfully, our OfficeMax in Bridgeville doesn’t last long. But it was a precursor for what we were up against in the months to come.

Most of us came back on Mother’s Day Weekend, but a few wouldn’t come back until mid to late June. A few of our people didn’t come back at all, moving onto greener pastures. Some of our stores really enforced the masks while others were laid back. Anyway you slice it, everyone would be totally divided on this issue as well as how our administration (state and national) was handling the crisis. Plus, the debate had risen over whether or not we were essential workers (like the hospital workers, for example).

Meanwhile, in Toastmasters, we were starting to get acclimated to holding our meetings online. I was somewhat used to Zoom as we had used it for our Financial Peace University meetings. I didn’t have a computer like most others did though so it would be tricky to take part in meetings but, I made it work with my iPad and later my iPhone. Let’s just say it was an acquired taste.

At home that summer, there wasn’t much Annabelle and Katie could do. Big events were cancelled and you couldn’t go to Kennywood or Idlewild. Well, you could but there were restrictions and reduced hours. Malls began to open their doors back up but hours were reduced and you couldn’t sit anywhere. We had our pool and that’s about as good as it was going to get. I was able to go to the Olive Garden for my birthday. Menus were different than what we were used to as they were thrown away after every meal.

Summer events that we enjoyed like the Arts and Heritage Festival and the Westmoreland Fair would be cancelled. My former church’s annual community service program, Uncommon, wasn’t going to go this year. The start of baseball season was pushed back to the end of July and would be 60 games. The Summer Olympics were postponed until 2021.

At work, I was still falling for my crush after she had returned in late June, sporting her now pastel pink hair. My fashionable sister got married in May but it was a small wedding. She’d have a nice one next year to make up for it and I would be there to celebrate with her and her husband. We were beginning to make up work lost during the layoff in Spring. My last year in my 30’s had begun.

Despite having limited choices for what to do this summer, I still took vacation in July with my aunt and Benny. We went to Erie and spent time in the pool, but we did other things as well. They went to Waldameer for the day and met up with my cousin and her little family. I went to a bookstore and drove around downtown Erie, stopping at the landing and looking at the beautiful view. We went to Presque Isle multiple times. We made the most of our time there.

The year 2020 taught us about red, yellow, and green and that they weren’t just for stoplights. We couldn’t shake hands, hug and kiss, or go out to eat. Schools had to resort to distance learning and this would hit home for us when Annabelle had to be home schooled in the coming school year. Working from home really became commonplace in 2020 as the virus raged on. The pandemic would be the death knell for some movie theatres, as well as malls that were already dead. JcPenney announced closures in 2020 including Century III Mall, which meant the mall would be closed for good.

Coming up this weekend, I’ll be talking about Century III and some of my memories of that place as the wrecking ball will be coming soon.

My fashion journey began to heat up as the summer began to wind down. I started buying bags as well as scarves and got some compliments. You can credit my crush or my sisters (who all have great fashion sense); but, they all just had a hand in bringing it to light.

Getting Out of my Comfort Zone

The blustery, cooler weather that has taken over this first week of Spring has given me the opportunity to work out indoors. Last week, I spent a good amount of time outside and I even wore a tank top since it was so warm by March standards. This week I’ve had more time to go to the gym. Usually, I don’t always have much time to spend there. Sometimes I only have 30 minutes. Other times, I have an hour. Making the effort to emerge from my comfort zone and drive there is a victory itself. My Apple Watch keeps track of my progress and I always have it with me for every workout.

I’ve made more progress this year in my fitness game than I have in the 10+ years I’ve belonged to Planet Purple. When you look at the last five years, I’ve really stepped up my game in 2024. I didn’t even go to the gym from 2020 to 2022 and started to turn a corner year early in 2023 before other commitments took me away. I walked a lot during the warmer months and, to be fair, I should have made exercise a top priority after my health scare in March of 2021. One of the days, I’ll take the time to do a hydromassage on one of the chairs. When I’m home, I’d like to take the time to practice yoga or pilates, or find a spot where I’m not disturbing anybody and dance. I’m kind of limited here, so I’ll try to teach myself when I can.

While I’ve begun to put my effort into my fitness game, I’m doing the same in my fashion journey as well. I’ve started to ditch the sweatpants more often and have begun planning my summer wardrobe. Just last week at my Toastmasters meeting, I wore my cheetah cardigan and didn’t even feel the need to hide it. Did I feel confident? Yes. Did I need others’ approval? No. That shows how far I’ve come in the last few years. I’ve taken two steps ahead and three steps back. Did I want to give up? Yes, on multiple occasions.

At Saturday’s Division Contest, I got some encouragement from some of my friends in Johnstown Toastmasters. One of them encouraged me not to walk away from my fashion journey (in addition to Toastmasters and my blog). Is it frustrating when I feel like I don’t get approval? Absolutely. Do I get discouraged? Every day, it seems like, but I keep moving on.

When I feel like I want to give up, I tell myself to remember why I started doing this in the first place. If you know me, you know this has been a thing for me since I was in middle school. I’ve come to terms with a lot of things I’ve done in my past. It’s not a crime but rather, the way I’ve reacted. But I’ve learned not to think too much about things and it’s benefited me in the long run. While the attention from others is important, it’s more important to love yourself.

The end result is that I’m happier with myself than I’ve been in a long time.

My First Conference in Five Years!

For many years, Toastmasters conferences and Slippery Rock homecoming have always been yearly traditions for me. From 2003 to 2018, I was present at all but three homecoming celebrations (2011, 2013, 2015). I always made a fun Saturday out of homecoming and reminisced about my days on campus at Slippery Rock. In the early post-academia era, I wanted to go back because it felt like a safe space to me and I wanted to make up for what I felt wasn’t a good enough experience. This was before I blogged regularly and started my fashion journey. From 2011 to 2019, I was always a regular attendee at the Toastmasters conferences in my District. I also attended one in Ohio. What happened?

Slippery Rock Homecoming was a longstanding tradition for me. I started in college and ran with it for a long time, even after I graduated. Eventually, the tradition got stale for me and a new one would take its place in the District 13 Fall Symposium. The same was true with educating myself as that finally wore itself out as well.

I attended almost every conference in my District with the first one I missed being in the Spring of 2018. The last time that I attended an in-person District Conference was the Spring of 2019. You all know what happened a year later. Life changes also played a part, as I have not attended the last two conferences. However, that streak will come to an end as I just registered for the 2024 Spring Conference slated for May 3-5 in Washington, PA. I won’t be far from Tanger Outlets and The Meadows and, just a drive to and from the city. As we get closer, I’ll look back on past conferences and maybe even do a top five. There will be a full weekend’s worth of blogs, including my plans for after the conference on Sunday.

Yesterday was the Division C International and Humorous Speech contests, which were held at the First United Methodist Church in Blairsville. All of our contestants gave a great performance and both sets of speeches were a mix of funny and heartfelt. I got to spend time with some of our amazing Toastmasters in Division C. The District Trio all showed up as well to encourage our speakers and award the winners. While I attended the first two contests, I will likely miss these next two since they’re in the morning and I’ll probably be asleep.

While I was at the contest, I made plans to attend some upcoming meetings in April. I’ll be attending Johnstown’s meeting online on April 9 and in the future, I’ll go up in person. That will take place sometime in the summer or early Fall. With my schedule pretty much set, I’m usually off Thursday nights and that gives me the opportunity to attend an upcoming Indiana Toastmasters meeting. That will also be online. My new webcam that I got in September has made attending virtual meetings easier but I still like getting together in person.

While we were between contests, I had the opportunity to talk to some of my friends from Johnstown Toastmasters whom I met at December’s club officer training. When I make it to an in person meeting, there will be a seat at #thegirlstable waiting for me. That phrase might just rank up there with the famous DTM Huddle from five years ago that I coined at my last in-person District Conference.

Over the last few days, I’ve started to come around and have no longer been having to hide myself. The end result is that I’m feeling more confident. It really helps when you love you, even if others “like” you.

Staying Home and Staying Safe

It’s March 13, 2020. We’ve just learned about all that is happening. Events are being cancelled and people are being asked to quarantine for 14 days if they think they’ve been exposed to the coronavirus. I’m at a Target in Monaca and it will be one of the last days I work until May. On my schedule, stores were cancelling left and right to keep their employees and us safe as well. My last day would be tomorrow at the Office Max in Greensburg. It was a short, easy day and I was home quickly. Better stock up on that hand sanitizer and toilet paper, people.

That night at church, everyone was addressing their concerns over the coronavirus. We took the necessary precautions while greeting guests and members so that we wouldn’t expose ourselves to the virus. Church would be closed for two weeks and all church events would be cancelled, including the Financial Peace University course that I was taking. Eventually, that class would be moved online and live-streamed. All church services would also be live-streamed for the foreseeable future. As we stayed home and stayed safe, we would be introduced to a new medium that I’ll get to in this blog.

That was a weird Spring and the year would only get weirder from here on out. Here is a six pack of facts as I navigated this new normal.

1.) Masks became mandatory as did social distancing, and six feet apart became a household term. Remember the previous year when I attended the Spring Conference and watched my Cranberry High Noon friends celebrate their achievements. They formed what I would call the DTM Huddle, and that became a popular term between me and some of my Toastmaster friends. Mom stayed home and used her sewing machine to make masks, while Dad made his own hand sanitizer.

2.) While we had no inventories scheduled, WIS wasn’t entirely shut down. A few of us agreed to help out Rite Aid with merchandising and putting product on the shelf. The Rite Aids we helped stock were in the North Hills of Pittsburgh and in Cranberry Township and Seven Fields. This was actually a precursor to what I’m doing now at Giant Eagle.

We did this for two weeks beginning at the end of March and going until just before Easter. By then, the outbreak was worsening and it was best for us to just stay home. Thus, I was officially out of work for a month.

3.) I discovered Gilmore Girls at the end of 2019 and started watching the show on Netflix. By the time COVID hit, this show really became my companion. Everytime I turned it on, I had to have my coffee (because Lorelai loves coffee). I even began to consider Ligonier my own little Stars Hollow, in addition to the perfect Hallmark Christmas Town.

A lot of people began watching the entire run of The Office during COVID too.

4.) Since I didn’t have much to do at home as well as keep myself busy while Annabelle was doing distance learning, I made time for road trips. A few times I drove out to my Little Stars Hollow and eat lunch in the Diamond that I picked up from Sheetz. I began listening to old school country music from my college and high school days) and even drove up to Johnstown a few times.

5.) I would be introduced to an online platform called Zoom that made it possible for us to attend group meetings. We used it for our Financial Peace University meetings when they reconvened after a few weeks off and it was also our means of having Toastmasters meetings for the foreseeable future. Because of Zoom, I began to attend more club meetings in the District. While this became a convenient way to attend meetings for those out of town or out of state, meeting virtually began to make me feel disheartened.

6.) The pandemic and the cancellation of stores were just a few of the many factors that were the beginning of the end of my employment with WIS. All big events were postponed but rescheduled. Many summertime festivals would be shut down for the next few years because of fears of the virus spreading.

The class of 2020, whether it was college or high school, made it through one of the most trying times that this nation has ever faced. Instead of enjoying your senior year, you had to stay home and avoid contact with your friends. No way you were going to any graduation parties.

For me it was back to work on May 9. While I got to see some of my friends, I knew there would be conditions and restrictions.

Did I really want to come back?

They Like You, But Do YOU Love You?

You’re active on social media and you’re doing your latest unboxing or showing your subscribers and followers your latest skin care or beauty hack. The video gets many likes. Where do these likes come from? Your subscribers who just follow and don’t even know you personally. Your YouTube channel or Instagram page may have over a million subs and you have a nice car or house or designer bags (I’m talking Gucci or Louis). But are you really happy? All the likes you’re getting or all the fans who started following you may not be worth the misery you’re truly feeling on the inside. The perfect life you live may not be so perfect after all.

Over the last few years, I’ve embarked on an interesting journey of breaking status quo and coming out as non-binary. My inspirations have included Harry Styles and Jonathan Van Ness. Am I happy? I’m trying to be but, I feel like I need approval because I’m taking on something different. Have I felt like giving up? Absolutely, because I’m not getting encouraging words directly handed to me and because of negativity that I’ve read in social media comments and on video. See last year‘s Bud Light fiasco for the answer to that latter question. Or, as I’m reading in the news, that one of my favorite non-binary celebs has been labeled as unbearable and having rage issues.

I broke into depression early in 2022 because I was away from my support system, as well as other issues I was dealing with. As I mentioned, I wasn’t getting approval and thought to myself what the point was? Things began to turn around that summer but early in 2023, new problems surfaced in my life. One was that I took the attacks on Dylan Mulvaney personally even though my journey was different than hers. The other was dealing with a family member being in the hospital for a prolonged stay. While I still struggle at times, I’m slowly starting to realize that my approval is all that matters.

It may be your taste in music (my tastes vary), your journey (whatever it may be), or something you enjoy taking part in that others may fear (i.e. public speaking).

If you like it, that’s all that matters.

I want to inspire people, but I don’t expect everyone to follow what I do. It may not be the thing that interests them. But I don’t want them to discourage me because they don’t like it or out of fear of what MAY happen. I realize that I need to take my own advice here, but don’t let someone’s rejection or negative opinion steer you away from doing something you love. This also applies to wearing an outfit that you know you’ll slay, even if no one else is watching or agrees.

In a recent post, I talked about some of the “pillars” that make up this blog as well as my life. Fashion, fitness, and food are three of them. There’s also faith and finance. One pillar that is also present though I don’t want it to be is fear. For many years, that’s one I haven’t been able to shake.

Fear and anxiety has been a constant in my life for years, and has held me back from achieving what it is I want to do.

As I close off the blog, I have some words of wisdom for me and for those of you reading this. When you feel like giving up, as I wanted to do when I wasn’t getting the return on my investment that I wanted, remember why you started in the first place. Whether your post gets a thousand likes or one like, remember that while they may like you, it’s important for YOU to love you. Appreciate all the nice words when they come around and, look for joy in everyday situations.

Remembering Big Break and other SRU memories!

Many of you who went to college remember how you spent that week off in between known as Spring Break. You either:

Went home and worked for a week at the job that put you through college

Did community service projects, or if you were like I was during my time at Slippery Rock, or:

Spent it on a warm beach in the panhandle of Florida sharing your faith with other fellow Spring breakers hoping to win them over to Christ.

For me, I did the last one. When I came to Slippery Rock in the Fall of 2003, one of the first things I asked about was what faith-based organizations were on campus. I belonged to a lot of them in my first semester.

I spent a lot of my time and energy at the Rock being involved in a non-denominational organization called Campus Crusade for Christ. While most kids abandon their faith when they get to college, I began to build mine when I arrived at the Hiram G. Andrews Center in the Fall of 2000. I went to church while I was in Johnstown and began to listen to more religious music by my last year there. I also sported a holier-than-thou attitude while I was starting out in my walk with God. So I was hungry for more when I got to Slippery Rock on that warm and humid day in August of 2003.

One of the things I was told about when it came to “CRU” were the trips that they took. That school year of 2003-2004, I took plenty of trips with this organization and made many friends. Here’s where my Campus Crusade adventures took me:

A weekend retreat in the Fall to Camp Sequanota (a camp that my cousins worked at and attended for many summers).

An event over the holidays called Christmas Conference which was held in Washington DC. I attended workshops, met many CRU staff members and students, rode the subway through the DC suburbs, and shared my faith with other people near the Washington monument.

A big Spring Break event called Big Break that was held in Panama City Beach.

Out of the three events I attended that first year with CRU, Big Break was the one I loved going to the most. It was a week on the beach in the warm Florida sun listening to worship music, learning from speakers, and sharing our faith with other beach-goers. We were the light in the dark Spring Break climate that inhabited the beaches along the Gulf of Mexico and the East Coast. Our emcee for the week wowed me with his humor and his parodies of popular songs and he had a girls’ name. I’m dating myself as I type this so I don’t remember exactly everything as it’s been 20 years since.

Being real, that trip to the panhandle was a break away from a stressful first year adjusting to a new school with a more stressful course load than I was used to. I had made more friends in that first year at Slippery Rock than I did in my three years in Johnstown and the Community College. But, the things which I took for granted while in Johnstown weren’t really at my disposal when I got to Slippery Rock. When the week ended, I was happy I got to go but sad that I had to leave and come back to cold and snow on the ground. I always say that getting there is the fun, and getting to ride down to Florida in a coach bus was always interesting, even though I didn’t get much sleep on the way down and coming back up. I’ll say one thing about the South though, and that is there are a lot of Waffle Houses and other breakfast houses.

I went back the next year but it wasn’t as fun as the year before and we had a much smaller turnout. After Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast the next summer, Spring Break became a time for cleanup and so students went down there to help out and volunteer their time the next couple of years. I graduated from college in December of 2005 without a clue of what to do with my life and no job leads. That would tell the next few years of my life and the remainder of my 20s. For years, I questioned whether or not SRU was the right choice for me.

Knowing what I know now, I would have worked more to raise the money needed to go on these trips and, I would have taken my foot off the gas and split my attendance at these events over the two years to save money. Also, I think I took the advice to not stop being a Christian a little too far. I know now that joining a faith-based organization helps, but living a Godly, moral life is even better.