Happy Days

Snowpocalypse 2011 has been raging across South Bend since this afternoon and I'm loving it.

I don't know why, but for some reason, every summer I forget how beautiful winter is. Last summer, when it would get really painfully hot outside, I'd cheer myself up by thinking, "Well at least it's not winter!" I would imagine icy pellets slapping my face and a howling frozen wind attacking my body, and was grateful for summer's lush warmth.

A South Bend winter is definitely no party but it's way more fun than I remembered, from admiring the sparkling drifts (see above) to pelting Samwise with snowballs (which he can't retaliate because homeboy lost his gloves. Heeheehee). When I get tired of that, I put my head back and sing, "If all the snowflakes were candy bars and milkshakes, oh what a snow that would be!" Then when all else fails and the cold really gets to me, I huddle my face into my coat and run as fast as I can to the nearest building while playing a fun little game in my head called "don't slip on the ice." It's awesome.

I'd like to offer the following words of wisdom from my dad: "There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing." My secret to loving the blizzard? Layers and layers of clothes plus long underwear and a coat so fat and puffy that I start sweating when I put it on indoors. What an appealing mental image, eh?

Now for the juicy part of the post. Tomorrow I am asking a boy to a dance. Yes I am. Here's the story: first semester of freshman year, I sat in Prof. Wicks' philosophy class right behind a ridiculously cute boy with thick brown hair and broad shoulders. As I was dating someone at the time, I never learned our hero's name, and so the mysterious cutie from philosophy disappeared from my life without a trace. Fast forward to my London semester one year ago: philosophy boy was there too. We never spoke a word to each other. I knew his name now, but he was still just some really cute guy and not a friend by any means.

Last weekend I went on the senior retreat and guess who was in my small discussion group. We actually had some conversations and I learned that this guy, who we'll call "MB," is more than just a handsome face. He loves God and his family. The proudest moment of his life was the day he won the interhall football championship and the worst time was when he was cut from that same team freshman year (and got his first college chemistry test back). His favorite book is Harry Potter. Not that any of this matters, it just showed me that he's an actual human being and a really nice guy. So in a stunning act of foolhardy courage, I made up my mind to ask him to my friend's old-fashioned ball this weekend.

I'm not really sure why I'm doing this. Certainly I don't think we're going to be best friends or something. But I think it would be nice to leave ND with one more friend, plus this is senior year - the time to take risks and be brave. So I'm taking an absolutely massive leap of faith and asking MB to the dance after Sorin Mass tonight. Between the Holy Land, the blizzard and the upcoming dance, this is a pretty exciting week. Wish me luck!