I get knocked down, but I get up again...

In keeping with the theme of being busy throughout October, Jeremy and I spent last weekend out of town catching up with some friends we hadn't seen in years. We went back "home" and spent the weekend in a gigantic cabin in the woods with some fantastic people. All in all, it was a great weekend.

The folks we were meeting up with were our former fellow debaters. You may or may not know this about us, but Jeremy and I met as a result of being members of the intercollegiate debate team at WVU. We both joined because we thought we wanted to be lawyers (and neither one of us ended up going that route). We are actually the second married couple that could be credited to the WVU debate team. We stayed on the team because, as much as you might think it is dorky, it was unbelievably fun. The reason for all that fun? The people.

The debate team was an eclectic group of people you probably wouldn't find together anywhere else. Some of the cool kids, some of the dorks (like me), some of the former jocks, you get the drift. However, we unified behind being a "normal" debate team who had lives outside of "the activity." (Hardcore debaters never just called it debate, it was always "the activity.) We were competitive and we liked to win. But, we also valued being good, well-rounded people. And, we liked to laugh. A lot.

Last weekend was about 20 people hanging out with nothing to do but reminisce about our college days. It's funny because the stories that were told usually didn't revolve around wins and losses. In fact, we seldom talked about the competition. Instead, it was the memories made on long van rides all over the country, during flights on the really distant trips, the Halloween parties and costumes we all dreamed up, and the fun (and, admittedly, mayhem) we had when we all just got together. It was all about the people we met and the memories we made together.

It was amazing because, after nearly a decade, we all just fell back into our places. I mothered people, because that's what I do. Jeremy was the quiet one. My old debate partner was the gregarious one. I'm sure you see where I am going.

On top of the relaxation of leaving town and seeing friendly faces, it was amazing to really reconnect with people and to realize that people genuinely do care what is going on in our life. I have always tried to keep up with them via social media and have cared what was going on.  It still surpassed me to see how much my friends still care.  In my competitive debate days, there was a song called "Tubthumping" (the receptacles for our research for debate were called tubs...). It became the Official Unofficial WVU Debate song. I can remember, after winning the only tournament my partner and I ever won completely, getting into the van and hearing the song cranked up. "I get knocked down, but I get up again. They're never going to keep me down." It was the mantra for the little, underdog, non-Ivy League WVU Debate.

I had forgotten about that song for quite some time. However, someone broke it out this weekend and all the memories came flooding back. I also can't help but connect it to where I am right now in our personal journey. November marks a year. If I start meds again in November, then we will officially be on cycle twelve. So, I've been knocked down, over and over. But, every time, I get up again. I've yet to be kept down.