Life Lesson I've Learned from Glee

The Road to Victory Isn't easy, but It's Worth It.

With the season finale of Glee this past week (ugh, I don't want to talk about it), we have to wait  for a month to see our favorites come back. However, the finale was a good one, and New Directions won regionals and beat the two competitive teams (one of which was coached by the evil Sue). This proves that after a long year and tons of hard work, the underdogs came out on TOP! How does this relate to real life, you ask?

  

Well, after four exhausting years, I'm graduating in less than a month! Like so many of my peers who are currently experiencing this same excitement and fear, it is only because of our hard work that we have made it to this point. We, like the Glee team, have reached the end of a very, very, very long road.

Life Lesson I've Learned from Glee

Most of the Time, Your Parents are Right
      
"Sean is no good for you," my dad said one night at dinner.
"You don't know that," I said. I looked across the table to my mother, who had her eyes down.

I hate to admit it, but my parents are usually right about most things. Growing up, I thought I knew everything. So when my dad told me he didn't like my boyfriend of four years, I shrugged my shoulders and walked away.

"You're in an unhealthy relationship," he said one say when Sean and I got into a fight because I wanted to go skiing and he didn't. After an explosive argument and a semi-breakup, I convinced myself it was just a "normal" couple fight.

After four years and one ugly break up due to the fact that our relationship was in fact unhealthy, I realized my parents knew it long before I did. Now, when my mom and dad try to tell me something, I listen and take advice.

Life Lesson I've Learned from Glee

Be Happy. Someone Somewhere Has It Worse Than You Do.
          The Summer That Changed My Life

"It will be good for you," my mom said one afternoon.

It was the summer before I went to high school. At 14-years old, my thoughts were consumed by boys, dances, and how to apply makeup. My best friend Nicole saw an advertisement for a summer camp for Special Education students and wanted to volunteer.

"No. No way," I said. I planned on going to the pool, laying in the sun, and reading the latest issue of Seventeen all summer. But after much convincing, Nicole and I signed up in May for a volunteer session at Camp Shining Arrow.

For more information on Camp Shining Arrow, click here: http://www.ncpad.org/programs/index.php?id=3309&country=&state=Pennsylvania&city=Pittsburgh

Camp Shining Arrow is a summer camp for mentally challenged adults that experience severe difficulties functioning in day-to-day activities. I had had no experience working with these adults, and I was scared.Camp was from 9am until 5pm, Monday through Friday. We were assigned partners with one of the campers and were responsible for feeding, playing, and watching out for them throughout the day.

 When I met Henry, I didn't know how to react. He was a 32-year old man with severe Down Syndrome and could not even feed himself. I had to feed him his ham sandwich on the first day of camp.

"No. I not eat that," he said from his wheelchair, as he pushed the sandwich away.

"Please, Henry. Just eat some," I said. I was unfamiliar with what to do or say.

"Ok," he said. He took a large bite of the sandwich and chewed it.

The next thing I knew, Henry had taken the chewed up sandwich from his mouth and flung it in my hair. After several minutes of trying not to cry and some promises to Nicole about never returning back to the camp, I realized that I needed to be patient with Henry. I learned more in that summer at Camp Shining Arrow than I had any other summer of my life.

Life Lesson I've Learned from Glee

17. Don't Be a Bitch
 Fight the Urge, I Learned the Hard Way

Carina was the quiest girl in the class. In fact, she was so quiet that when the teacher called on her, she would freeze and not respond to the answer. Everyone made fun of her. Her mousy brown hair was pulled back into the same ponytail every day, and she drew cartoons in her spare time. Kids in my class would snatch up the cartoons and tease her. Myself included.

Carina was an easy target. Her mom was the school librarian and never spoke up, so I figured I would never get in trouble. Besides, wouldn't a librarian that yelled at an innocent sixth grader look terrible?

One Saturday, our class had a party at Discovery Zone. While the moms huddled at the cake table and discussed carpools, my best friends Nicole and I found Carina in the ball pit. Our teachers called us the three Ns.
"Nice drawings," Nicole said.
"Yeah, nice drawings," I repeated. And then the worst possible thing happened. I kicked Carina in the shin and all three of us ran away.

In high school, Carina's father was diagnosed with brain cancer. He was not supposed to live.

"Attention girls. We have a student with a very sick father. Please keep her in your prayers," our principal announced over the school speakers.
I never talked to Carina in high school. I didn't even acknowledge her in the halls. She was always alone. But one day in my junior year of high school, Carina wrote me a note:
Natalie, I know I have always been shy, but it's because I'm afraid of what people will say about me.

I didn't need detention or a lecture from my parents to know how mean I had been. Now, Carina goes to Point Park for Art, and her pictures are amazing.

I learned my lesson.

Life Lesson I've Learned from Glee

16. You Can Choose Your Friends, But Not Your Family
        The Only Common Ground Between Us: Parents

All I wanted was a sister.

Ryan and I share nothing. In grade school, he snuck out of eighth period to smoke with friends. I went to youth group. Ryan barely graduated high school. I couldn't wait to go to college. I realized we would never get along on my 13th birthday, when my grandma got me my first bottle of perfume. I stashed it on my dresser, brainstorming when I could wear it for the first time. One day after school, the shiny crystal bottle was gone.
"Mom, did you take my perfume?" I asked.
"No. It was on your dresser last night. Check again," she said.
I searched. It was gone.
"Ryan, did you take my perfume?" I asked. I held my breath. I didn't want to know the truth. I felt the fury build up in my face, bracing for the worst.
"Yeah," he said. That was it. The most prized posession in my 13 year old life was gone. I exhaled.
"Why. What would you want with it?"
"Trust me, you don't want to know."

Now it was time for mom to intervene. Things were going to get bad.

"Give it back to her, Ryan. Now," mom said.
"I would. Except that I don't have it anymore," Ryan said.
"Where is it?" Mom asked.
"I made a bomb out of it," he said. "Used some lighter fluid. Worked real well."

The tears dripped down my face. I wanted to charge at him, punch him in the face. I never even got to use it.


Nine years later, and I still get angry when I think about that bottle of perfume being lit on fire and tossed around in the forest by Ryan and his buddies.
But why fight it? Family is family. I may not have the traditional relationship with my brother, but I'll never have another one.

Life Lesson I've Learned from Glee

15. You are Your Own Worst Enemy
        My Life as a Semi-Perfectionist

Just like Rachel Berry, I always knew I was a little crazy. OCD (and I use this term very loosely) has taken a grip on my life and won't let go. Is it extreme? No. Is it enough to make me feel like I am losing my mind on a day to day basis? Yes. It is especially bad when it comes to school work. I will make mental check lists throughout the day, then transfer them to paper, then go through and double-check them.

But I'm not talking about just any kind of list. I make lists that consist of things like: "Pay credit card bill in two weeks", and "check bank account later". Little do I realize that by the time I write these things down, I could have just logged onto the computer and completed them. I lay in bed at night and run through my lists, verifying that everything got done. If I print papers out to hand in for an assignment and accidentally staple then the wrong way, I have to reprint it and do it again. Or I have to pick the staple out if it is in backwards.

The worst part about this problem is that I check my alarm clock several times throughout the night to make sure it's set. I am terrified of being late for anything, so I stare at the clock, making sure the Alarm button is on. This makes me feel crazy, and watching the neurotic Rachel Berry eases my pain.

The day I realized I need to chill out was when my boss at work happened across my parents while I was working (I work at the mall. My parents came in the store).
"Natalie sure is a good worker," my boss said.
"Well that's good," my dad said.
"The only thing is, she is harder on herself than anyone else is," my boss said. "Sometimes she will get frustrated if little things get off track. You know, if things aren't running smoothly."
This forced me to realize that being uptight is not a good way to be.