Continued...
Miami continued to fall apart, but it was one of those moments where it didn't feel like the meet was a total mess while you were in it. Maybe that is just because I typically roll with the punches 99% of the time, or maybe because it was a mess encased in a lot of laughs, hugs, crazy videos and just a big load of TEAM. Honestly, it didn't seem or feel like a total mess until it was over and I started to think about how everything actually planned out, but we will continue with after bars at Miami.
So I started bugging the personal trainer, because hey, she's there, might as well use her. She strapped ice to my bag, and if the saran wrap was better at staying in one spot, I would have competed beam with it strapped to my back. But when I tried to stick it down my leotard, it just got my whole backside wet and started to leak.
Right before beam, Chloe came over and prayed for my back, and honestly, there was no pain until I did my dismount. I am sure that I left a wet spot on the beam though from the ice. I went back over to the trainer, bugged her again and she took me off to the side, pulled my leotard down and massaged biofreeze into my lower back, and then took me back over to her table and wrapped more ice around my body. From there we waited for floor, which was being used by both the men and the women, so it was going to be a while.
As I laid on the floor, I recalled last year. I was in a similar position. I had just sprained both of my ankles, I wasn't about to scratch on floor, which was our last event and Rachel let me use her leg as a head rest, and Shannon had brought over a mat to raise my feet up on. Now I was lying on the same gym floor, in the same spot with my head resting on Rachel's leg again, but this time it was because of my back.
Many of my teammates said that the floor routine that I did at Miami was one of the best floor routines that they have ever seen me do. Which was awesome, but I was in a lot of pain at that point. I probably should not have done my routine. Once the meet was over, I went back to the trainer one last time, my pee filled leotard off, finally somewhat comfortable, Mason with me, and we wrapped our backs one last time with ice. Chloe said goodbye, as she asked Mason to keep an eye on me, and make sure that I am making good decisions. I smiled, I am glad that I have someone like her to keep me in line, and remind me who I am sometimes.
Chloe gave me a hug, and left, leaving her backpack sitting by the wall... So to sum it up, I used Katie's grips, Sammi's wrist pads, I got about six bags of ice strapped to my bag, I used my teammates body parts as pillows for the second year in a row, my leotard was soaked from ice and urine (Katie and I have become very open about this problem... sorry if it's an awkward position for you) two times biofreeze was rubbed on my back, and Deshawn ripped, I don't know how many times. HELLO NEW SKIN! I'm pretty sure Deshawn was crying in that video.
Afterwards we went to lunch, where I was squirming so much, and it even got to the point where I went "to the bathroom" and tried to call my Mom, crying, but we were in some underground pub so there was no service there. I just let myself cry at the pain in my back for a little bit before I went back to the table and reclaimed my seat next to Michaela. When we got back to the hotel, I made another effort to call my Mom, Katie slapped ice on my back as I cried into the phone while lying in bed. I felt bad for Shannon and Paige because they really didn't know what to do about me crying. Katie had been there through it before, but not anyone else in the room. It hurt to move, it hurt to breathe, my back just hurt, and when I bent over Katie exclaimed and told me to stay bending over as she looked at the bulge in my lower back. Paige looked at it, and said that it might be a bulging disc. At that I just lost it. I spend my whole life hoping, praying, trying not to be my parents, and I go off to college and of course, the thing that would stop my Dad from doing what he loved would be the same thing that would stop me from doing what I love. I tried to explain this to Shannon, who was trying to comfort me, and it took a little bit, but she finally understood. "you're not your Dad." She would tell me, and of course, I know that, but it felt so typical that this would happen at the time.
So we went swimming, I figured it would take the pressure off of my back for a while. I took off my new Miami shirt, and that was the last time I ever saw it. Despite my missing shirt, swimming was a lot of fun with the team. Danny and his shenanigans, took my phone and literally blew it up with pictures of random stuff, which actually killed my storage for the rest of the meet. Later that night we got ready for the party, but everyone decided that they wanted to walk to the party since it was "just down the street." I was all ready to go to the party until my back started hurting again and I was away from ice. I asked that we would drive but Katie said, "Becca's not going to be the D.D. again because she is drinking tonight! I want her to drink tonight" and that was that. I didn't recall ever saying that I would drink that night... Mason had peaced out shortly after swimming and the DIY hot tub, so my sober buddy was not really around, and I just laid in bed trying not to move for a while.
Katie, again, pushed drinking... and dating... especially since Danny was there and Danny and I are friends, and we are both single. That's when I turned around and I just flat out told her what I wanted out of life, "Someone that fits my standards okay, I'm not dating them unless they fit at least five from each category. I'm sorry."
"Okay, and who have you met that actually has a chance in the world at meeting five from each of those categories!?"I shook my head and laughed, she already knew the answer to that.
"Well that didn't work out,"
"And you think that I am not aware of that? I am perfectly aware of that, but it doesn't change the fact that I have those standards there, and I'm not shaking on this." I said to her, "Now, can we please go see if Danny wants to come to the party or not?"
Shortly after our walk to the party, I took a seat on the couch. I didn't want to be standing, walking or moving for that matter. Every time my body moved there was a new pain in my back. So I fell asleep on the couch, and when I woke up there was a circle of guys staring at me. Probably thinking I am passed out drunk... Nope. Just in pain.
Eventually I got a hold of Stephanie, my cousin who goes to Miami, and Mike walked with me to meet up with Steph. We got to catch up, she gave me advice about what is going on in my life, and she said, "my friends asked me about you. They are like, 'what does Becca do? Does she drink, does she party?' and I honestly couldn't answer that. I just looked at them and said, 'she does her.'" I laughed, it's true though. If I am in the mood to let loose for a couple of hours, I will do so, if I am in the mood to sit down and play cards at Danny's apartment (as he serves me salad and steak... :)) , I typically would rather do that. Once I was with Stephanie I actually started having fun.
The next morning, I awoke to a call from Chloe saying that she had left her backpack in the gym at Miami. So Katie and I went back over, and picked up the bag that I would later ship to Chloe. Remember when I said all that could go wrong did? Yeah... I believe that was the last of it. Until Shannon found Chloe's pants in her couch a couple of weeks later and we spent days trying to figure out whose pants they were. On the car ride home though... we stopped three times just for vomiting on the side of the road.
So that was MIAMI 2K15. A hot mess from start to finish.
I bet you are wondering what this has to do at all with what God has done this year? Hold on, because for a while, this is what it felt like. It felt like God wasn't anywhere, he wasn't doing anything, and this seems to happen when you are in college. Especially when the competition season starts because you are missing Sunday morning church for drives back with the team, there is excessive partying and you're in the third quarter of the year. This is where your school work seems like it is all for nothing, your team has bonded, you go home less and less, and you are more carefree despite the amounts of tests, and your friendships on top of that are really getting tested, because this is where you get sick of each other.
So I'm getting to what God was doing.
ITALY came, and it was the day that we were leaving. Danny dropped us off at the airport, we said our goodbyes, gave hugs and left for Venice. It was an amazing trip, but by the end of Venice, I was just tired of being lost all the time. Venice is very confusing, and I suggest a GPS. But it was beautiful, and a very interesting way of life. Katie and I arrived in Rome, and it was nice to actually be around someone who knew where they were going. The three of us explored, got some gelato and so on.
It had been discussed between Katie and I, that Tyler would not want her living with other men next year, even if it was for half the year, and even if she was sharing a room with me. However, nothing had really been decided... until one morning in Rome when I woke up to a message in our group page on Facebook saying that she was completely backing out.
She didn't even talk to me about her final decision. CRACK. She gave me nor any of our other roommates no warning. CRACK. There were so many things that were just eating away at our friendship, and we could feel it. It was like when you know that you are getting sick and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Or like those vines where they stop the video right before a big fall and they say, "It was at this moment Tommy knew, he messed up." We were the ones in the vine, and boy did we know that we were messing up. That's what it felt like our friendship was doing, and it sucked. It really sucked.
But Italy was GREAT! Not going to lie, I had a blast, and it was really cool because that is when God actually started to show me how big he really is and how small I am. There was this massive shrinking feeling over me, and when that happened, I feel like God just grabbed my attention and was like, "I GOT THIS!" and I was like, "Yeah, I know you do."
When Italy was over, one of my teammates and I came back with a stronger relationship, and I feel like we got past that awkward, "oh we are living together next year, even though you aren't my best friend yet," stage.
Then LUCAS GOT MARRIED! WHAT? Yeah that happened.
Dad and I joked about my little cousin, Alissa getting married before me, and I told him that was not allowed to happen. Especially under the circumstances I am in now. Alissa is my NINE year old cousin, who is surprisingly more awkward than myself.
After Italy, there was a week and then we were back in competition season with our home meet! Here is the video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUYnxcwjoQo
The set up for the gym took hours of our time the night before. We started about half way through practice Friday night and didn't get out of there until around twelve in the morning, but I always think that setting up a gym together is always a team building thing. Besides, it was fun to throw those mats over the balcony... The tear down though went pretty fast because then we had a lot of parents and other teams helping us, the hardest part was getting the big mats back into Gym C all the way from Bowen, but it got done.
The party that night was Barbie and Ken themed, and I had a lot of fun. It was a small party, with the team at some frat house that I don't remember the name of, but it was literally the frat boys, us, and Austin and his friend from GVSU. One thing about this year is that I started off hating being the DD because I am just getting directions from a ton of drunk people, but I have come to love it. I cannot tell you how much fun I had at that party. Everyone made it back to my apartment safely, and the walk to Jimmy Johns was cold but nice. The next morning I awoke to Will and Austin sleeping on my floor in my apartment. Oh. It was nice chatting with them though, and soon enough they left, and I got ready for church.
At this point, the talk of moving out had started, and it was really weird to start thinking about what I was going to do over the summer. In all honesty I didn't want the year to be over, I didn't want to move out, I didn't want to go home. So when I got an e-mail from a camp for the summer, one that was a Christian camp, and had gymnastics... I applied.
As you all know by now I ended up getting the job.
We had a couple more meets, fun ones, and then came the big Nationals... A lot happened at Nationals, and if you want a creative writing version of the story, just read:
http://becca-definesweet.blogspot.com/2015_05_01_archive.html
It will give you a good idea of some of what happened. Not as dramatic, I didn't have a melt down, but some similar events took place. Too much to explain. Indeed, we made more videos, we had fun... and you can once again watch it on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo3d4fRKGlM
It's actually a pretty funny video if you ask me...
After Nationals, I had already accepted the job at Camp Merri-Mac as a camp counselor, and started packing for camp, and Madagascar. Katie moved out shortly after that, and so did Becca. Then I was left by myself.
That was pretty much Sophomore year.
A lot happened, but as Katie and I were looking back on it today at practice... she just nodded and said, "it was good."
It had its flaws, and there are some things that I would do differently, but I nodded as well. It was a VERY VERY good year.
Miami continued to fall apart, but it was one of those moments where it didn't feel like the meet was a total mess while you were in it. Maybe that is just because I typically roll with the punches 99% of the time, or maybe because it was a mess encased in a lot of laughs, hugs, crazy videos and just a big load of TEAM. Honestly, it didn't seem or feel like a total mess until it was over and I started to think about how everything actually planned out, but we will continue with after bars at Miami.
So I started bugging the personal trainer, because hey, she's there, might as well use her. She strapped ice to my bag, and if the saran wrap was better at staying in one spot, I would have competed beam with it strapped to my back. But when I tried to stick it down my leotard, it just got my whole backside wet and started to leak.
Right before beam, Chloe came over and prayed for my back, and honestly, there was no pain until I did my dismount. I am sure that I left a wet spot on the beam though from the ice. I went back over to the trainer, bugged her again and she took me off to the side, pulled my leotard down and massaged biofreeze into my lower back, and then took me back over to her table and wrapped more ice around my body. From there we waited for floor, which was being used by both the men and the women, so it was going to be a while.
As I laid on the floor, I recalled last year. I was in a similar position. I had just sprained both of my ankles, I wasn't about to scratch on floor, which was our last event and Rachel let me use her leg as a head rest, and Shannon had brought over a mat to raise my feet up on. Now I was lying on the same gym floor, in the same spot with my head resting on Rachel's leg again, but this time it was because of my back.
Many of my teammates said that the floor routine that I did at Miami was one of the best floor routines that they have ever seen me do. Which was awesome, but I was in a lot of pain at that point. I probably should not have done my routine. Once the meet was over, I went back to the trainer one last time, my pee filled leotard off, finally somewhat comfortable, Mason with me, and we wrapped our backs one last time with ice. Chloe said goodbye, as she asked Mason to keep an eye on me, and make sure that I am making good decisions. I smiled, I am glad that I have someone like her to keep me in line, and remind me who I am sometimes.
Chloe gave me a hug, and left, leaving her backpack sitting by the wall... So to sum it up, I used Katie's grips, Sammi's wrist pads, I got about six bags of ice strapped to my bag, I used my teammates body parts as pillows for the second year in a row, my leotard was soaked from ice and urine (Katie and I have become very open about this problem... sorry if it's an awkward position for you) two times biofreeze was rubbed on my back, and Deshawn ripped, I don't know how many times. HELLO NEW SKIN! I'm pretty sure Deshawn was crying in that video.
Afterwards we went to lunch, where I was squirming so much, and it even got to the point where I went "to the bathroom" and tried to call my Mom, crying, but we were in some underground pub so there was no service there. I just let myself cry at the pain in my back for a little bit before I went back to the table and reclaimed my seat next to Michaela. When we got back to the hotel, I made another effort to call my Mom, Katie slapped ice on my back as I cried into the phone while lying in bed. I felt bad for Shannon and Paige because they really didn't know what to do about me crying. Katie had been there through it before, but not anyone else in the room. It hurt to move, it hurt to breathe, my back just hurt, and when I bent over Katie exclaimed and told me to stay bending over as she looked at the bulge in my lower back. Paige looked at it, and said that it might be a bulging disc. At that I just lost it. I spend my whole life hoping, praying, trying not to be my parents, and I go off to college and of course, the thing that would stop my Dad from doing what he loved would be the same thing that would stop me from doing what I love. I tried to explain this to Shannon, who was trying to comfort me, and it took a little bit, but she finally understood. "you're not your Dad." She would tell me, and of course, I know that, but it felt so typical that this would happen at the time.
So we went swimming, I figured it would take the pressure off of my back for a while. I took off my new Miami shirt, and that was the last time I ever saw it. Despite my missing shirt, swimming was a lot of fun with the team. Danny and his shenanigans, took my phone and literally blew it up with pictures of random stuff, which actually killed my storage for the rest of the meet. Later that night we got ready for the party, but everyone decided that they wanted to walk to the party since it was "just down the street." I was all ready to go to the party until my back started hurting again and I was away from ice. I asked that we would drive but Katie said, "Becca's not going to be the D.D. again because she is drinking tonight! I want her to drink tonight" and that was that. I didn't recall ever saying that I would drink that night... Mason had peaced out shortly after swimming and the DIY hot tub, so my sober buddy was not really around, and I just laid in bed trying not to move for a while.
Katie, again, pushed drinking... and dating... especially since Danny was there and Danny and I are friends, and we are both single. That's when I turned around and I just flat out told her what I wanted out of life, "Someone that fits my standards okay, I'm not dating them unless they fit at least five from each category. I'm sorry."
"Okay, and who have you met that actually has a chance in the world at meeting five from each of those categories!?"I shook my head and laughed, she already knew the answer to that.
"Well that didn't work out,"
"And you think that I am not aware of that? I am perfectly aware of that, but it doesn't change the fact that I have those standards there, and I'm not shaking on this." I said to her, "Now, can we please go see if Danny wants to come to the party or not?"
Shortly after our walk to the party, I took a seat on the couch. I didn't want to be standing, walking or moving for that matter. Every time my body moved there was a new pain in my back. So I fell asleep on the couch, and when I woke up there was a circle of guys staring at me. Probably thinking I am passed out drunk... Nope. Just in pain.
Eventually I got a hold of Stephanie, my cousin who goes to Miami, and Mike walked with me to meet up with Steph. We got to catch up, she gave me advice about what is going on in my life, and she said, "my friends asked me about you. They are like, 'what does Becca do? Does she drink, does she party?' and I honestly couldn't answer that. I just looked at them and said, 'she does her.'" I laughed, it's true though. If I am in the mood to let loose for a couple of hours, I will do so, if I am in the mood to sit down and play cards at Danny's apartment (as he serves me salad and steak... :)) , I typically would rather do that. Once I was with Stephanie I actually started having fun.
The next morning, I awoke to a call from Chloe saying that she had left her backpack in the gym at Miami. So Katie and I went back over, and picked up the bag that I would later ship to Chloe. Remember when I said all that could go wrong did? Yeah... I believe that was the last of it. Until Shannon found Chloe's pants in her couch a couple of weeks later and we spent days trying to figure out whose pants they were. On the car ride home though... we stopped three times just for vomiting on the side of the road.
So that was MIAMI 2K15. A hot mess from start to finish.
I bet you are wondering what this has to do at all with what God has done this year? Hold on, because for a while, this is what it felt like. It felt like God wasn't anywhere, he wasn't doing anything, and this seems to happen when you are in college. Especially when the competition season starts because you are missing Sunday morning church for drives back with the team, there is excessive partying and you're in the third quarter of the year. This is where your school work seems like it is all for nothing, your team has bonded, you go home less and less, and you are more carefree despite the amounts of tests, and your friendships on top of that are really getting tested, because this is where you get sick of each other.
So I'm getting to what God was doing.
ITALY came, and it was the day that we were leaving. Danny dropped us off at the airport, we said our goodbyes, gave hugs and left for Venice. It was an amazing trip, but by the end of Venice, I was just tired of being lost all the time. Venice is very confusing, and I suggest a GPS. But it was beautiful, and a very interesting way of life. Katie and I arrived in Rome, and it was nice to actually be around someone who knew where they were going. The three of us explored, got some gelato and so on.
It had been discussed between Katie and I, that Tyler would not want her living with other men next year, even if it was for half the year, and even if she was sharing a room with me. However, nothing had really been decided... until one morning in Rome when I woke up to a message in our group page on Facebook saying that she was completely backing out.
She didn't even talk to me about her final decision. CRACK. She gave me nor any of our other roommates no warning. CRACK. There were so many things that were just eating away at our friendship, and we could feel it. It was like when you know that you are getting sick and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Or like those vines where they stop the video right before a big fall and they say, "It was at this moment Tommy knew, he messed up." We were the ones in the vine, and boy did we know that we were messing up. That's what it felt like our friendship was doing, and it sucked. It really sucked.
But Italy was GREAT! Not going to lie, I had a blast, and it was really cool because that is when God actually started to show me how big he really is and how small I am. There was this massive shrinking feeling over me, and when that happened, I feel like God just grabbed my attention and was like, "I GOT THIS!" and I was like, "Yeah, I know you do."
When Italy was over, one of my teammates and I came back with a stronger relationship, and I feel like we got past that awkward, "oh we are living together next year, even though you aren't my best friend yet," stage.
Then LUCAS GOT MARRIED! WHAT? Yeah that happened.
Dad and I joked about my little cousin, Alissa getting married before me, and I told him that was not allowed to happen. Especially under the circumstances I am in now. Alissa is my NINE year old cousin, who is surprisingly more awkward than myself.
After Italy, there was a week and then we were back in competition season with our home meet! Here is the video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUYnxcwjoQo
The set up for the gym took hours of our time the night before. We started about half way through practice Friday night and didn't get out of there until around twelve in the morning, but I always think that setting up a gym together is always a team building thing. Besides, it was fun to throw those mats over the balcony... The tear down though went pretty fast because then we had a lot of parents and other teams helping us, the hardest part was getting the big mats back into Gym C all the way from Bowen, but it got done.
The party that night was Barbie and Ken themed, and I had a lot of fun. It was a small party, with the team at some frat house that I don't remember the name of, but it was literally the frat boys, us, and Austin and his friend from GVSU. One thing about this year is that I started off hating being the DD because I am just getting directions from a ton of drunk people, but I have come to love it. I cannot tell you how much fun I had at that party. Everyone made it back to my apartment safely, and the walk to Jimmy Johns was cold but nice. The next morning I awoke to Will and Austin sleeping on my floor in my apartment. Oh. It was nice chatting with them though, and soon enough they left, and I got ready for church.
At this point, the talk of moving out had started, and it was really weird to start thinking about what I was going to do over the summer. In all honesty I didn't want the year to be over, I didn't want to move out, I didn't want to go home. So when I got an e-mail from a camp for the summer, one that was a Christian camp, and had gymnastics... I applied.
As you all know by now I ended up getting the job.
We had a couple more meets, fun ones, and then came the big Nationals... A lot happened at Nationals, and if you want a creative writing version of the story, just read:
http://becca-definesweet.blogspot.com/2015_05_01_archive.html
It will give you a good idea of some of what happened. Not as dramatic, I didn't have a melt down, but some similar events took place. Too much to explain. Indeed, we made more videos, we had fun... and you can once again watch it on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo3d4fRKGlM
It's actually a pretty funny video if you ask me...
After Nationals, I had already accepted the job at Camp Merri-Mac as a camp counselor, and started packing for camp, and Madagascar. Katie moved out shortly after that, and so did Becca. Then I was left by myself.
That was pretty much Sophomore year.
A lot happened, but as Katie and I were looking back on it today at practice... she just nodded and said, "it was good."
It had its flaws, and there are some things that I would do differently, but I nodded as well. It was a VERY VERY good year.
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