The Big Event

So... today was The Big Event...

For those who don't know, The Big Event is one of Texas A&M's biggest and most well known traditions.  From six students cleaning a cemetery 32 years ago to over 20,000 students serving the community of Bryan/College Station, and as of today even serving worldwide in Germany, Spain, Italy, and Pakistan.  The Big Event has come a long way...

I debated for quite a while whether to actually sign up to work or not.  It's a complicated mind game I play every so often.  I love being a student again... but then again, I'm almost 50... and all these other students are young and they've got their life in front of them... and I'm not so young and I've already lived most of my life... and these students are still learning to be leaders and get involved... and I've already had those opportunities, whether or not I took them... 

But I did it, I signed up... and I got up... 

I love to come up with word pictures for my thoughts and feelings.  It's something I tried to start learning to do many years ago and I find that it sometimes will help even me understand exactly what it is I'm feeling... 

So as I park this morning, and get out of the car, and look at the masses of Aggie student humanity surrounding me... as I listen to the excited calls of one friend to another across the parking lots... as I hear the laughter of the groups of friends... I feel alone, and out of place...  

I started trying to come up with a word picture... first thing that popped in my mind was an old cucumber (I cleaned out the refrigerator yesterday) but that didn't really work... then it hit me... I feel like a spotted banana... one of those that has gotten just a little bit squishy because it's been sitting there getting a little too ripe... and all around it in the bowl are these bright yellow firm bananas and these slightly green almost ripe bananas... it actually works well as a good word picture for me because the older the banana, the sweeter they are; and in some literature I've read recently, the older the banana, the better they are for you... yeah... that's me... extra sweet and good for you... 

But, I digress... back to The Big Event...

Do you know how hard it is to find someone you don't know, have never met, don't know what they look like, in a crowd of 20,000?  There were a couple of moments I felt like backing out, going home, calling it quits, that no one would miss me... but I didn't... I waited, and I looked, and I'm so glad that I did... 

Turns out my group leader went to my high school!  What a small world!  And yeah, even though I am old enough to be their mother, they all welcomed me, talked to me, took me in for the day... I became an honorary member of Pi Phi Sorority for the day... and we worked our tails off... and I listened to them laugh, talk about all the little stuff that goes on in their lives, and I smiled... 

I am different from them, but only because I'm an older version... and it's okay to feel a little out of place because it means whatever I'm doing is taking me out of my comfort zone and making me stretch my boundaries and learn new things... 

So today for The Big Event... I showed up... I did it... and I made a couple of new friends, I had lots of fun, I was impressed by the next generation... 

So what sort of thing are you wrestling with because you know it will feel uncomfortable?  it will take you out of your comfort zone?  it will stretch you? Well guess what... just do it!  Because it just might be something big that you'll miss if you don't... 

photo courtesy of author

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