It's the middle of May, 2012 in San Antonio, Texas. I had just graduated from college...scratch that, I hadn't technically graduated yet, but I had taken my last college class. You see, I was on a full-ride scholarship as a student-athlete at The University of Texas at San Antonio. As a student-athlete, I was granted 5 years to finish my education. I decided to capitalize on that by getting myself a double degree. I had completed all the coursework for my Communications Public Relations major and had just a few more classes before my second degree in Business Management. Now, my 4th year as a student at UTSA just so happened to be the first year the University had a football team. YAY! Right? Wrong!
Having a football team means having more student-athletes and more student- athletes means money spread thin to more hands. In March, my academic advisor came to me to inform me that due to a cut in funding and the high cost of tutoring to the football players, my fifth year was no longer covered under my scholarship. I could finish my second degree on my own dime, or I could take my communications degree and call it quits. I was 21 without a job. I chose to take the degree and run!
I digress. So it was mid-May in San Antonio and I was done with classes. To celebrate, a bunch of my volleyball teammates and I decided to take a river floating trip on the Comal River in New Braunfels. For those of you who aren't familiar, tubing in Central Texas is a big deal in the summer. Load up a cooler with beers and MD20/20, load as many bikini clad bodies into whoever's car is largest, and drive about 45 minutes up to any Toob station to begin what usually ends up being a 3-4 hour long float down the Comal. At the end, a bunch of sloppy drunk, sun baked, nearly 20 year old guys and gals clamber up the slippery steps to the bus and return to their cars to drive home.
This particular trip was not too different. I was riding up with some of the freshmen and younger girls...I always had a way of making friends with younger people, maybe due to the fact that I was always a year younger than most in my class, maybe because of my immature nature. Whatever the reason, I drove my Chevy Trailblazer loaded with 19 and 20 year old girls up I-35 toward New Braunfels. There was, of course, a water bottle full of vodka and orange juice to entertain us for the long drive.
Sarah sat in the front seat after winning a ridiculous "Shotgun" battle with some of the other girls. Sarah was more like me than anyone I had met. We were both borderline insane, overly crude and childish, and got joy and humor out of the most ridiculous things. She used to pants me in the middle of crowded restaurants on road trips for volleyball tournaments. She would belch out "I Love You" with the most surprising poise. My "caller ID" picture for her was a photo of both our white naked butts from a gas station bathroom. We once got the whole team punished for playing a rather annoying game of true or false on the bus during a long road trip. Example: "True or False? If you don't like the true or false game, you should put on your headphones and look away."
On top of the fact that we were both supremely immature, we also slightly looked alike. Double trouble. Two tall, pretty blondes, uninhibited and carefree about what people thought. Recipe for trouble.
Needless to say, we made our share of enemies and a pretty tight bond in a very short 1 year period together at UTSA. Anyway, she was riding shotgun on the way to the river explaining to me how she had been a fight and broken up with her friend, our former teammate, Alex. She had used her iPad which had an unregistered cell phone number to text creepy things to Alex. Things like "I like those pink underwear you're wearing," and "Don't close the blinds, I love watching you play with your hair while watching TV." Sarah lived across the hall. Just further proof to the insanity in our humor.
Alex got creeped out and so Sarah came clean. Alex did not see the humor in the joke and thus, their friendship ended. I thought it was hilarious and Sarah and I laughed about it on the drive. The point to her story was that Alex was no longer going to join her and her dad on the trip to Belize they were supposed to take in less than 2 weeks. I expressed my condolences in the loss of friendship and vacation partner.
Then Sarah looked at me with the most devious smile.
"Want to come with me to Belize?" she said.
And that was the beginning of the adventure of a lifetime.
