A few years ago, I was at Mount Carmel late one Friday night. There were a little over a hundred of us gathered here to participate in the Student Leader’s Retreat. At this retreat, we break off into small groups and participate in a bunch of leadership building activities. There are usually a few embarrassing moments at this retreat, but mine tops the cake.

The night started off with everyone scattered about in Duplantis Gym. We began by gathering into our groups and meeting everyone. Once we were all introduced, we began to make our “train” and come up with some fun cheers. Once time was up, we had to go in the middle of the gym to present our train as well as give our best cheer. This moment caused my face to go flush and my voice to lower because there were only about ten of us cheering in front of about ninety other people. I got over the embarrassment, though, because it’s all a part of the night. I thought that by being done with that little moment, no more embarrassment would come. Boy was I wrong.

After everyone presented their groups, we went to the cafeteria for pizza and snacks. We sat with our new groups to better get to know each other. Once everyone was finished, we all stood on the chairs and did many cheers. This was one of the most exhilarating moments of the night because we were not competing, but all cheering together. Ok, well we did compete a little when we had class cheer-offs, but it was still fun.

Pizza and cheering was fun, but it was time for the night to truly begin. We once again gathered with our groups to begin the real festivities of the night… the games. Once we were given our room numbers, we were all dismissed and sent on our way to start the games. While running from room to room, we screamed our cheers as loud as we could. We all had this rush of adrenaline because we wanted to win the spirit award. 

Playing the games was lots of fun, but all good things must come to an end. Once the games were over, it was time to gather in the gym once again to prepare for midnight mass. At this time, we had to tone down all of our excitement and get in the mood to welcome the Lord into our presence. We all walked to Capel and entered through the front doors. I was close to the middle of the line, so there were a good bit of people already seated by the time I had made it in. Still filled with excitement and adrenaline, I was a bit scatter-brained walking in; this caused my downfall… literally.

The Capel was very dark because it was in the middle of the night, and the carpet in there is a very dark color. For this reason, I did not notice the step up onto the altar. As I was walking to my pew, I felt an unexpected obstacle in my way. Before I could even fathom that it was the step up, I found myself face first on the floor.  As if my face wasn’t already red enough, I had managed to grab a candle on my way down. The candle, as well as its holder, had come down with me and a loud thud was heard throughout the Capel. 

“OMG! Are you okay?” one girl asked.

“Who was that?” asked another.

I could not even give an answer to these questions because I was trying my hardest to hold back laughter as well as tears. My friends, on the other hand, did not hold their laughter back. They all let out loud cries either with me, or at me; I couldn’t really tell. It didn’t matter either way. People rushed over to me just to see that my face was bright red, my knee was scuffed, and the candle and I were laid out on the floor. Luckily, the candle wasn’t lit; otherwise, this story would have been a lot less funny and a lot more smoky.