By Georgia Grellier
Welcome back to Story Time with Georgia, where I relay various stories from members of the Colorado College community, and also sometimes just me. Maybe you forgot to test run an app for the Iowa Caucus, or got caught lying about your marathon time on public radio (if anyone sees Paul Ryan, ask him if he wants to be featured). Either way, email me if you have a story and/or crave publicity.
Who: Isabella McShea ’20
When: Like three summers ago, idk
What: This story is not one about an embarrassing moment or cringeworthy high school revenge plot. This week, I’m straying from my brand (just a little bit) in favor of some more wholesome, warm-fuzzy content.
Each summer, Isabella McShea ’20 spends a week as a camp counselor at a camp for children with health issues. Since the kids require slightly more supervision, counselors are with them at all times, even when they need to use the bathroom. One day, after a morning of beading necklaces with some of the campers, one eight-year-old girl needed to use the restroom, so McShea went along with her.
When they got to the bathroom, it became apparent that this was going to be a number two situation, so McShea prepared to be there for a while. The camper did her business uneventfully until, somehow, her newly constructed necklace slipped off her neck and into the toilet. How that happens, I do not know.
Anyway, this girl was completely distraught and sobbing her eyes out, and McShea was faced with a very important choice: to extricate the precious necklace from the toilet, or pull the classic “distract-and-engage” and attempt to help the camper through the trials of the necklace mourning process.
McShea just might be an angel, because with her bare hands she embarked on a search through this girl’s turd water for a small beaded necklace that was probably pretty replaceable. Yes, she stuck her very own hands in there and fished around for a small necklace, which took at least five minutes to find and many more minutes to sanitize before it could be returned to this camper. So yes, McShea is saintly, and sometimes you need a story that is equal parts disgusting and heartwarming to get you through the week.
Takeaway: Necklaces are risky, make sure you square knot those bad boys.