o-H-I-o

Hi guys! Greetings from Cincinnati!

My break has been good so far, lots of lounging on the couch and spending time with my family. I am a new member to Pinterest, and have quickly become addicted. So far my addiction has lead me to create an appetizer version of caprese salad (on toothpicks so it's super cute) and it's absolutely delicious. Other than that I don't have much to report back on, but I am out of the boot and was cleared on Thursday so I can now run! With excitement and ambition I got a little ahead of myself and the next day I decided to test drive the foot and go for a nice run through lovely Mariemont. To my disappointment I barely made it to the end of my street before I was already exhausted, but my foot didn't hurt so that's a good sign. And not to worry I powered through the run, and will be doing that for the rest of break so that hopefully by the time I get back to school I can at least keep up with some of you guys.

Onto my inspiration:

As I'm about to embark on my Urban Plunge, which is where I will be living and being immersed into the inner city for 48 hours to learn about the lifestyles of the homeless and the many different services they are provided with, I'm stuck on the idea of privilege when I begin to think of what I should be writing about in this blog. As with life, when we get into routines, we are not always able to notice all of the blessings that are in disguise in our lives, but if we take a step back, and take a slightly different perspective on the day we can see all of the amazing things that we are fortunate to have in our lives. I feel that doing the Urban Plunge last year really helped me to appreciate all that I have, and realize the many privileges in my life.

At school we are constantly going a mile a minute, because that is what is demanded of us, and in doing so I feel that I often lose sight of the privilege. But we go to the best school in the country, which I believe is an unarguable point. And one better, we not only get to play the sport that we love, but get to represent the university in doing so. How awesome is that? I mean seriously, what a privilege we have! Because going to class, rushing to practice, shoving food in our mouths at training table, doing hours of homework, and sleeping for a limited amount of time quickly becomes our routine when we arrive back in South Bend, it's easy to get caught up in everything we are doing, and not realize the privilege behind the lives that we live.

Though it can be hard at times, and we do face many challenges that correspond with the privilege we are given, it is all worth it in the end. One night while I was doing homework for my theology class last semester, I was forced to read an encyclical (how boring), and while skimming I assumed I was going to get near nothing out of the reading, but instead I stumbled across the most amazing quote that I now keep as a sticky note on my laptop at all times. It said "embrace the struggle", and I feel like this is a great quote for our team to live by. In using this phrase I am not assuming we are going to fail, in fact the opposite. I believe that with privilege, especially the privilege we have been given as members of the Notre Dame women's lacrosse team, there are challenges that make the privilege worth while, and I view particular challenges such as a 50/50 ball that we lose or a garbage goal as little struggles we may face along our path to success (let me just say Natty Champs 2012!), and for this reason we must embrace the struggle and keep powering on.

I wholeheartedly believe in this team and am so excited to be a part of it. Just remember what we get to represent by putting on our jerseys every game day, and our pinnies every day at practice. We have worked so hard to earn this privilege, so now it's time to prove why we deserve to keep it.

Peace, love, lax, and saving the world (shout out to mags and jaim),
Adele