The Walk?

Once a year, the port-a-potties grace Wabash Avenue, with a presence. Once a year, adults make a return to their youth and join the thousands of college students who either wake up earlier than they ever would for a class or stay up all night the night before, gracing the bars with their appearance and money. Yes, once a year homecoming returns to Indiana State University, and once a year, thousands of people "walk" along Wabash Avenue, in a state that many of them would never want publicized.

The walk doesn't appeal to me. Personally, I hate being up at 5:30 a.m., and the idea of doing anything, and that includes drinking, is repulsive in my opinion. If I am up at that time, someone is feeding me breakfast or I'm going to be super grouchy.

However, this year instead of just going to the stadium and waiting for my friends to finish their party, I was asked to do the one thing I hate, wake up early.

My sister recently turned 21 and she could hardly wait to have her first experience on the walk. She was going to start with her boyfriend and I would meet her at the stadium and take both of them home.

I've been sick recently and the idea of being around that many people did not appeal to me, but I figured taking care of her wouldn't be so bad. That changed, of course, when I received a call from her earlier last week. She was in tears because the boy broke her heart and among other things, her weekend was ruined.

"What am I going to do?" she said. "I have no one to go with on Saturday, everyone else has their groups done and I have no one. This sucks."

"It's fine," I said. "I will go with you, but I don't want to drink, I've still got a cough."

I then proceeded to tell my sister to drink lots of water and get lots of sleep and I would bring the donuts Saturday morning.

It was 7 a.m., and I was in her dorm room, making her eat and making sure she had everything. My mother was with us. She agreed with me, drinking doesn't sound like a good idea but the exercise would be nice. My boyfriend's brother, who is also good friends with my sister, also accompanied us. We were off and I began baby-sitting two 21-year-olds with the help of my mother. I have decided that the more adults drink, the more they revert back to children and I would rather take care of small children because they listen more than adults.

Anyway, Ryan was the designated driver for all of my friends and we got everyone home and in their own beds. By 3 p.m., I was ready for a nap. But everyone lived and no one was arrested.

My sister is ready for next year and my mother isn't sure if she will be joining again. I think the grossness of the entire situation didn't appeal to her. I told Ryan to take the day off next year because he was going to baby-sit his brother. Personally, I'm happy this event only takes place once a year, because I don't know if I could handle taking care of everyone more than that.

Something good did come from the day, ISU won the game and who knows, maybe they will win again next year?