Bottle Of Water

It is amazing to me how the bottled water industry has exploded in our country. It seems that every where you look someone is carrying a bottle of water. Until recently I did not think too much about this craze, until my daughter’s volleyball team had a health crisis.
My daughter has been involved in some type of organized sport since she was six years old. She is now sixteen and is a great team player and quite skilled in volleyball. She has a great personality so even though she is only a sophomore she was picked as co-captain on the team. I go to all of the home games and to as many of the away games as possible. A few weeks ago they were playing against a school about thirty five miles away from the town we live in. I stopped at home and changed clothes after work and picked up my son and drove to my husband’s office to pick him up. At the last minute I grabbed a case of water from the refrigerator in our garage. I had my son open the case and hand me a bottle of water as I was driving. When we picked up my husband he also wanted a bottle of water. He asked why I had brought a case along. I explained that some of the girls may ride back with us and they would be thirsty.
When we arrived at the game my daughter waved to us in the stands. She came over and asked if she could have a drink out of my bottle of water. She said that they only had the squirt bottles of water on the side lines and she did not like sharing with others. She also said that a group was going out for pizza after the game so they would not ride home with us. I had my son go out to the car and bring in the case of water. Several of the girls had a bottle of water and the rest said that they would use the squirt bottles. The girls won the game and we went home.
About three days later my daughter called me from school crying. Several girls from the volleyball team were very sick from meningitis. One of the girls was in the hospital for two days and the others were coming down with symptoms. They feel that the one girl spread it to the other girls through the bottle of water. They are supposed to squirt water into their mouths, but they are not always careful.
A week later the girl that had first contracted the meningitis died. The other girls are getting better, but they are all so sad and shocked that their beautiful young friend is gone. I am so thankful that my daughter did not drink out of the squirt bottles and that I had brought the case of water along. I think that having the bottle of water along saved others on the team from getting sick.