Under The Radar: A Redshirt Diary

Tell Me Something Good

After landing in Pensacola, Lauren and Michael picked up their contingent's rentals and drove them around to the baggage claim entrance, where Marc, Casey, Sarah, and Ally were waiting with everyone's luggage. Once the vehicles were loaded and the passengers in their seats (Casey and Ally with Michael, Sarah and Marc with Lauren), the pair of minivans headed west for Gulf Shores, making the trip in just over an hour.

When they arrived up at the Beachside Resort Hotel, Lauren and Michael parked near the front entrance. Upon exiting the vehicle, Marc saw Cam, Sophia, Annie, and who he presumed was Cameryn's mother standing outside a late-model Chevrolet. As he walked over to them, the three players came toward him, with Cam wrapping her arms around Marc from in front and the other two from the sides. Sarah joined them a minute or so later, then whisked Sophia and Annie away to help with unloading the vans. With them gone, Marc and Cam spoke for a bit, with him saying there should be some downtime between duals for them to chew the fat some about the issues adjacent to this morning's incident. After another hug, Cam went back to the car and grabbed her and Annie's luggage, then asked Marc if he could bring Sophia's with him following his conversation with her mom. Once Cam had gotten out of earshot, Marc formally introduced himself to Tina Wilusz.

Tina: So you're the man-about-the-program that my daughter and Sophia were telling me about while trying to convince me to bring them up here.

Marc: I hope they didn't paint TOO rosy a picture of me. From your perspective, how is Cam?

Tina: She's shaken, that's for sure. You know, I never thought something like that would happen to her because she's always had Sophia or Rebecca or Savannah around to manage her when she got too much of the good thing in her stomach and bloodstream.

Marc: I love all three of them and, yes, they are good wingwomen for Cam, but there's also a need for her to accept a bit of responsibility for the state into which she gets. I think her adventure last night has woken her up a little, based on what she told me when we talked around 11:30 our time.

Tina: Do you think you can fix her?

Marc: It's not about fixing Cameryn. What she needs is empathy alongside a cold dose of reality. I believe she's faced that second thing to some extent, which means relying on the first to nudge her toward further introspection and eventual life changes, because these two phrases I'm going to say are quite true and must be balanced. The first is "Nothing changes if nothing changes", meaning that a person needs to alter their normal mode of operation if they wish to avoid the same outcomes as before. The second is "No one changes unless they want to". It can't be forced through guilt, shame, reason, logic, or an emotional plea. As a counselor, I can only walk her so far toward a new way of viewing the world. The rest has to be her own desire to embrace who she can be without the obstacles currently in her life.

Tina: You're around the girls a fair bit, I was told. Do you think Cam has a thing for one of her teammates?

Marc: I try to stay out of THAT kind of speculation. What would draw you to that conclusion?

Tina: Just the way she seemed to be clinging to Annie and her response to Cam's glomming-on.

Marc: The overall question will have to wait for another day, because Cam's actions are likely not due to her orientation, but are a classic trauma response, where a victim will gravitate or cling to the safest person in their midst, and it usually doesn't equate to the one to whom he or she is closest. Until I can get inside her head and the timeline of the past eighteen hours or so, I couldn't tell you what is truth and what is fiction in that matter.

Tina: I should be finding my way back to New Orleans. Thank you for what you've already done and for caring about Cam. Oh, and if your girlfriend is ever looking for a part-time gig, the Saints could probably use her.