The First Bite

Welcome to the Eavesdrop Crockpot! After my first semester at Purdue, I realized college is seeded soil unwatered; raw ingredients waiting to be cooked. I hear quotes and questions destined to be heard by more ears than just my own. I witness actions of humor, immorality, kindness, and creativity that should be shared. My goal is to bring these occurrences to my crockpot. I want to take these ingredients and bring out a moral message, a testimony to faith, a laugh in a reader, or to highlight the qualities of someone. I am only two days into my second semester, so I thought I would start my blog with a recipe of my first semester questions, sights, and sounds that have stuck with me. Before I begin, I will give a quick synopsis of who I am. I am studying Professional Writing and Communications as a 3rd generation Boilermaker. I am Catholic, the youngest of 3 with two amazing older sisters, soccer goalie, type one diabetic, frisbee golf lover, and lover of snow globes. Now here are my ingredients for my first semester:

2 "On a scale of 1-10 how confident are you that you'll get to heaven?"

1 Indian Monk

3 Uses of "that's what friends are for"

1 Good ole God

100 Ways to Travel across Campus

1Broken Umbrella

2 "On a scale of 1-10 how confident are you that you'll get to heaven?" I had never been asked this question before, but it was asked of me twice in about two weeks at Purdue. Once by an individual who was trying to convince me that my faith in Christ via the bible verse Romans 6:23 should put me at a 10. The other time by a curious member of Cru giving a survey of my faith. First of all, I hate this question. Both times I answered 5-7 and maybe 10 if I just walked out of Confession. There is no right answer. Low numbers point to a lack of faith in Christ's power and mercy. Higher numbers point to a prideful faith and complacency. Shouldn't we live seeking to bring heaven to Earth through our faith, works, and prayer, but believe in his omnipotence and infinite mercy? Also, the goal should never be how to live to get JUST MYSELF to heaven. The best faith lives are selfless as Christ's life was selfless.

1 Indian Monk. A tall, bald man with alert and begging eyes connected with mine during my trek between two classes. He approached me asking my major and if I was a student, but never introducing his name or asking mine. He explained he was a monk from India that practiced in meditation and asked me if I knew of Ghandi and Henry David Thoreau. After I told him yes, he exclaimed "Wow, you really are a professional writing major!" Like dude, I knew one author and Ghandi that is nothing impressive. Anyway, he put these books in my hand telling me "I want you to have these" and gave his spiel only to ask for money by the end of it. I explained I had no money in the form of cash, card, or app (the man offered many different payment types), so he took the books away and disappeared. Even though I did not necessarily want the books, he made me feels as though I had lost something that was mine.

3 Uses of "that's what friends are for". I tried stand-up comedy for the first time this semester and this was part of my bit. In the performance, I made jokes about the different uses of this phrase between girls and guys. The third use came for when you didn't have friends (me at the time). I looked at myself in the mirror after eating alone and walking a fair distance on campus to realize I had a HUGE glob of chocolatey goodness on my chin. Hence, the third use of "that's what friends are for" is what I told myself in the mirror.

1 Good ole God. The story has it after 2 months of eating between 15-19/21 meals a week alone and struggling with girlfriend issues, Good ole God stepped in when I turned to him. I was sad enough that Bruno Mars music could not even cheer me up. I decided I needed to go to confession to bring back my faith and after that confession a more distant buddy from high school asked me to go to dinner with him and his friends. Now, I have a beautiful and caring group of friends from that night. Good ole God

100 Ways to travel across campus. Walking, running, morph suit dancing, biking, birding, scooters, skateboards, buses, cars, motorcycles, mopeds, motorized skateboards, hoverboards, unicycle skateboard thingys, segways, Pace bikes, and I even saw some roller skiing. Yes they had skis on wheels and the poles to push them across campus. It is fascinating.

1 Broken Umbrella. Rihanna would have been devastated by the state of my umbrella because one person, let alone 2 people could not be protected from rain by my umbrella. My poor umbrella broke because it fell out of my backpack and then I stepped on it. Half of it remained intact, while the other half was floppy. I was sure to bring laughter to someone because anytime a wind gust came with rain (often), my umbrella flipped inside out and I became a dog on a leash. Simple solution, buy a new umbrella right? Well, I'm horribly cheap and saw the umbrella as damaged not broken, so it lasted me a full semester.

What then could possibly be the tasty end product of this crockpot meal? Gratefulness. I learned/am learning to be grateful I even have to opportunity to walk from class to class to get an education instead of hating the conditions in which I have to do it. I am grateful to be in a day and age in which so many different forms of transportation can be witnessed and attempted to keep life interesting. Grateful for God showing that my worries can be entrusted to him. Grateful for the friends in the past, present, and future who have cared for me in every way including if I have chocolate on my face. The monk taught me I should spend more time being grateful on what is currently mine and not focusing on what more I could have. Finally, I am thankful to have a merciful and loving God who gives His grace and a chance for me (who cares how likely) to go to His Kingdom even though I am undeserving.

My sisters would tell me when I was little, "You have to try something 14 times before you know if you like it." Ridiculous? Yes. Did it help me eat food I wasn't a big fan of? Yes. Well, I stand by that rule now and this was just your First Bite of my crockpot meals ;).