way to go gamecocks

   Hi everyone, yesterday I went to a basketball game in NYC where my college team, the University of South Carolina gamecocks, beat the Florida gators and made it to the Final Four for the first time in school history.  For years, it has been rare for us to even qualify for the tournament at all.  This was the first basketball game I have been to since being the mascot in college18 years ago.  That might seem like it is because I am not a real fan but it is really because I had a tough retail work schedule and just couldn't easily schedule ahead enough to buy game tickets.

   I did not cry when we won, but I cried the night before when I thought of all the gamecock fans being in New York City.  The fact is that SC people just don't get to go to New York City that easily, and it is especially tough to get to live here.

   I am expecting to find out any day if I qualify for SSDI insurance payments to help me get through some time not being able to work because of severe mental illness that worsened after abuse at my job and in my life, and it made me emotional to think of all the USC fans here in New York, even though it was to cheer on the basketball players and not me.  But it was a boost to me, too, to be in the stands and feel an extra surge of self esteem that I have always gotten from the special privilege of being a school mascot, which was a blessing that helped me survive and finish school twenty years ago when my illness first wrecked me.
  Now I will soon find out if I get to sit around and play video games, which I haven't done much in life because of working very hard. Once I am on disability, people will not know that I have worked hard, and some people might think it is a scam.  But it is not a scam, and if people knew the endurance and strategy it takes for people with mental illness to get through each day, they would gladly cheer us on, and many would pay anything to see us finish the race someday instead of crumpling into homelessness, debt, and sudden death.