This title may seem a tad bizarre, even silly, but it is how I describe myself. Ridiculous as this extended metaphor is, it nevertheless assisted me with my acceptance to the University.
I am a 5-foot-1-and-a-half, Italian girl, who is incredibly proud of her heritage and is a family-oriented fanatic. Coincidentally, one of the most tantalizing Italian dishes is shrimp and spaghetti. In case you're still completely unaware of where I'm headed: I'm the shrimp, and my friends and family combine to create the sauce, while the noodles are the environment where I now live.
Just follow me here. Each shrimp is cooked in its shell for the tender juices to be soaked up. I have marinated in the sauce of my loving friends and family, and it has shaped me into a tasty young shrimp. For that, I am most lucky and grateful. Without them, there's no question that I'd be a different, unsavory crustacean.
As I was packing up to return to the wonderful town that is Charlottesville at the end of Winter Break, I came across a scrapbook I made for my English class last year. Beginning to skim through this piece of nostalgia, I re-read surveys my friends had taken, as well as a letter to myself, a letter to my future grandchildren and a timeline of my very young life, among many other artifacts. Thankfully, a spark was ignited. Although it's a new year, a new semester and a new beginning, I realized that it's all right to wade through fond memories.
Reminiscing about the good, old days, I pondered the various paths I've chosen that have led me to where I am and who I am today. My BFFs have increased in number from a sturdy one to a solid three! My family has encouraged me to just be me and has assured me that everything happens for a reason, despite how awful it may seem at the time. A few of my past teachers have assisted in the molding of my decisions and quite possibly my future career choice. Without my sauce, I don't know where I'd be. I sure wouldn't be wearing orange and blue so proudly today. As I hung out with everyone during break, it occurred to me that I had never accorded them much significance in my at-times rickety and bumpy life.
We are all individual shrimp - some are meatballs - that have been thrown into a giant pot filled with a diverse, unique sauce. This may be a new year, a new semester, a chance to reinvent yourself in college, but that doesn't require abandoning your original family recipe. Adding a few spices or a few shrimp and removing some unpleasant meatballs can be necessary at times - a healthy change. But keeping the original recipe stowed away in that old-school recipe book with its various stains is just as necessary.
I'm not, by any means, encouraging anyone to dwell on the past. Wallowing in unfortunate times can cause depression, or worse - being stuck in the moment of which U2 infamously warns us. Instead of always looking to the future and worrying about what's next, which classes will stand out on your applications for grad school or which New Year's resolution you will blow off in February, I'm encouraging you to pause so that you can appreciate what's happened already and how you got there. After all, it's vital to happiness.
There may not be any time like the present, and the future may be calling, but the past has already left a voicemail. Fantasizing about where your path will lead you is grand, but glancing back occasionally isn't bad either. Flipping through that recipe book on a rainy day is worthwhile and delightful. So to all of you shrimp - and meatballs - out there, remember: You'd be nowhere without your old sauce.
Mary's column runs biweekly Fridays. She can be reached at m.bruno@cavalierdaily.com
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