“Don’t run in the rain” I’ve heard my mom say that a dozen of times when I was a fluorescent adolescent just wanting to jump around in the puddles. My mother has given me amazing advice some that have saved me from countless disastrous encounters, but none have humbled me more than “Don’t run in the rain”. The one advice I never listened to, the one I should have listened to the one I wish I did more than anything was “don’t run in the rain” and this is the story why.

My name is Giacomo Bacigalupo, my family is a soccer oriented family so naturally I’ve been playing since before I can remember. Come sophomore year in high school and I’m already a regular started on my high school soccer team, which is something that doesn’t usually happen. My club team was also doing well and me being a key contributor in our success. Trailing back a year I was the freshman that all the seniors on the team loved they would want me to sit with them during lunch, invite me to parties on the weekends and I was also getting a lot of playing time for a freshman life was good. So you could say I was pretty cocky and “cool” the year after.

One stormy and cloudy afternoon as I walked the halls of Killian High wearing my soccer jersey thinking I was the coolest sophomore across the land, the announcements rang and our principle Mr. Rodriguez began saying “Hello cougars, due to the rain outside we are granting you 15 minutes to get to class” meanwhile hearing this great news me and my soccer buddy started a master plan on how and where we would skip to but then our beloved principle finished his statement reminding us “don’t forget that we have midterms today and 15 minutes is more than enough to make it to class, be careful and have that cougar day”. As me and my friend grouched and procrastinated around the cafeteria we decided it was best to go to class.

The storm in my eyes had become a hurricane, the biggest Miami Dade County had ever seen. I only had 5 more minutes left to get to class. As I opened the door I saw 3 Hispanic underclassmen getting influenced by 2 Hercules looking seniors to not go to class. I got aggravated at the sight of this and feeling pride in being Hispanic I felt the need to guide my fellow brethren in the right direction. I built up enough courage and pointed two fingers to my eyes followed by me directing the same fingers towards my freshman brotherhood who I’ve never seen in my life and darted straight into the storm running and screaming to the next building.

By this time I was gaining speed and was running so fast that the rain drops were slowing down. Have you ever ran so fast you noticed you were running faster than usual? Well that’s how fast I was running. Meanwhile the 3 Hispanic freshmen were so inspired by my touching display of leadership that they followed my footsteps I did not know this had taken place. As I got closer to my destination I had noticed a massive lake of a puddle that had formed coming up, but I was running so fast that I thought I could clear it. Right before liftoff I decided otherwise seeing that this puddle was an ocean of rain drops. I tried to stop but my momentum was too great and I fell right into the sea. I got up quickly and reached the building. Soaking wet bubbles would pop out of my shoe every time I would take a step, as I thought to myself “that god no one saw that” the door burst open alongside a roar of laughter. It was the 3 freshman I had so gracefully inspired to follow the right path in life, and by the end of the day the cool soccer player had become the kid who fell in the puddle. So instead of being cocky and thinking you’re the best around remember “Don’t run in the rain”.