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Cara is standing on a hill behind the Susquehanna University baseball field. There is a sunrise behind her and she is wearing a flannel and jeans. She is looking down and smiling.
(My Love by Tricky Diesel starts playing and fades into background as Cara begins speaking)
Cara: Have you ever tried to describe yourself? Because shit isn’t easy. It may sound easy, but, you either rip on yourself or, if you’re like me and have a god complex, you just present yourself as the greatest person to ever walk the planet.
Then there’s the challenge of figuring out what counts as relevant information because I mean… I could tell you about how I have a dent in my forehead, my inability to go a day without quoting New Girl, or my annoying obsession with the Toronto Maple Leafs, even though I’m not Canadian… but that’s too predictable… and probably boring.
So, I decided to bring in some help and ask some of the people in my life what first comes to mind when they think of me.
The first round of answers were…
(music fades out as the audio recordings of answers start to play)
Friend #1: Cara is a little stinker
Roommate: When I think of Cara… *wheeze*
Sister: Be.. the….oh fucking shit *laughs*
(audio clip of Stanley the pug barking)
Friend #2: Kind of dumb…
Cara: The second round were a bit more helpful…
Friend #3: A bad bitch who can fit in a dryer… a compact, bad bitch.
Friend #2: Vegan, TikTok queen.
Friend #4: I don’t know anyone else who did competitive ice skating so it’s a… distinguishable characteristic.
Cara: But I will admit that the third round did make me tear up a little bit.
(Your Sweet Love by Finn Anderson fades in)
Roommate: When I think of Cara, I think of family oriented.
Friend #2: Goofy, hilarious…one of my very favorite people.
Sister: Determined and being kind because she has a really big heart, and she always thinks about how her decisions are going to affect other people before she makes them.
Roommate: She loves her family and talks about them any chance she gets.
Mom: Courage. She is so brave and courageous in everything that she does.
Sister: She always wants to make sure she’s doing the best thing for those around her and those people that she loves.
Cara: I knew that getting them involved would lead to…pretty unpredictable answers and what you heard in round one was…to be honest, about what I was expecting. But… welcome to my life. It’s full of crazy but wonderful people.
(Mockingbird (Instrumental) by David Mumford fades in as the previous song ends)
Born and raised in Upstate New York, growing up was a blur of snow days, apple picking, figure skating, and apparently saying words incorrectly.
Listen, when I chose to go to a college at a tiny town in central Pennsylvania, the last thing on my mind was that when I started talking about where I was from and telling stories and… basically just speaking, everyone would go ‘why do you talk like that?’ I mean my roommate is from Kentucky and my friends literally make fun of my accent more.
A few of their favorite things are to make fun of the way I say “el-a-men-tary school” or the way I add an “L” to “bowl-th because apparently it’s supposed to be “both”.
I’ll get back to the point…
The things I remember most from growing up are the people and my interactions with those people. I mean, pool games with my cousins,
(sound effect of jumping into pool)
New Years Eve at the bowling alley with the entire family,
(sound effect of pins being knocked down)
Laughing so much our stomachs hurt with my sister,
(sound effect of babies giggling)
Cringing over our middle school selves with my best friend,
(sound effect of disgust)
And, more recently, watching my mom meet the love of her life.
And… after years and years of begging, finally getting a family dog. Not even a full year before I went to college, which sucks, thanks Mom. But, better late than never, I guess.
His name is Lincoln (yes, as in Abraham), he’s a chocolate lab and 120 pounds (I know he’s a big boy) of love and snuggles. And a big baby.
My life has been a series of… well…
(music abruptly stops)
(overlapping sound effects of explosions, baby crying, an audience laughing, and crashing)
But… whose hasn’t?
(music starts again)
One of the greatest things about being alive is human connection. I mean, there’s nothing else like it. I’m a firm believer in valuing the love in your life and never taking anything for granted. I’ve had a lot of loss, but that’s not what defines me. We tend to forget how short life can be and how little time we have with the people we love. I want to live every day being as involved with them as I can, making as many people smile as I can, and that’s not possible if I’m only focused on the past and all the negative things.
It didn’t seem right to sit here and talk about me, even though I kind of ended up doing that, when the people I care about can do it so much better.
So, thank you for coming on this rollercoaster with me. I hope it made you smile or even laugh a couple times. Even if it just distracted you from whatever craziness is going on in your own life right now.
Remember to tell the people that you love how much you appreciate them. It goes a long way.
(Music fades out)
Thank you to zapsplat.com for all of the sound effects used as well as Tricky Diesel, Finn Anderson, and David Mumford for the music!