The memories I've had!
I remember my first year volunteering at VBS. I had signed up for the worship team because I wanted to be with you guys. Tammy, Melissa, Helena, Tinny - you guys were what I viewed as cool. Haha- I'd laugh, but the problem is that I still do think the same thing. I would sit on my computer and scroll through the pictures on facebook and think, pwehehe I am hanging out with older people, I am so cool. But it's just that I had never been in the company of people who were so much fun to be with. I had never laughed so much, or felt so accepted by people who I hardly knew. Honestly, I was going to be a dirty little freshman, and you guys were going to be sophomores who already knew the ropes in high school, and freshmen and sophomores do not usually associate. So I was thankful. And Tammy, I did admire you from afar. All my friends did.
And then I heard about Christine, who was not on the worship team but was instead a teacher, and I realized too that it's okay to want to be a teacher, and that it's not a terrible thing to not be on the worship team. That's what I realized. And it's a good thing too, because I do love to teach. I'd like to be a teacher one day.
And then came freshmen year, and Melissa, you waved like a silly little girl in the hallways and that one morning at FCA, and you invited me to sit with you at lunch and I never felt better at my first day of high school. I still thought you had to raise your hand to get out of your seat like in middle school, man. It was good you had my back.
And Monique, you and I, we were crazy, and we laced fingers and skipped down the halls together, singing backstreet boys at the top of our lungs. And Nashville, oh Nashville, it seems like so long ago. I can hardly believe it happened- all that crap that you cried through and that crazy windy night and the way we prayed and the people we met and talked to and the delicious food we ate... and fast forward to winter retreat, when we laid out on the dock in the freezing night, staring at the stars, and you pointed out the constellations and told me that no, that was not a shooting star, but a satellite. And we cracked jokes, hysterical jokes, that everyone laughed at I swear. And it was good times. I can still feel the biting wind on my neck and laughing, so hard.
And then Christine and I got drunk on that biting wind, or something in the air. It's the best thing to get drunk on, I'll say.
And I went to Azalea Apartments, and all of us, we slept together, and I told bedtime stories to Monique, and I fed Christine, and I ran with Melissa and Tinny to Chinatown to deliver a watermelon to someone, and we were out of breath... and we played with the children and we performed random skits and we washed the dishes and played guitar at night and ate Mochi and watched Up and had amazing meals together... and it was good times. It was wonderful times.
And then this past year, with everything, oh wow - the haunted house (I am amazed still that I survived), the early morning WaHo visits, the crazy large homecoming, the core groups, and youth groups, the faux prom, the laser tagging, the the the-
It's those things that stick out to me when I look back. Sure there's all the stress from school and the drama with friends, and all the crap that we complain about, but no, these are the times that I can look back on and say with confidence, I was happy. I was happy and there were no hard feelings, no ulterior motives. It was pure, it was real. Guys, I hope you can at least get an inkling of what kind of impact you've had on me, because it's amazing, the way it happened.
And now, it's my turn to step up. And our day will come too. And things will come, and things will go. Today, when I was cleaning things up, I was thinking, wow, this is what I had wanted to do five years ago, and here I am. Here I am. You know, I had always wanted to be in the "in" crowd, to be accepted; that's just how I am. I've always wanted to avoid problems and make sure everyone's happy. But you guys have taught me, kindof ironically, that it's not about being "in," but about reaching out to the people on the outside. There is no such thing as "in." It's all in our heads. It doesn't even matter.
But this matters, and we matter, and God matters. And I am so thankful, and so happy, and so content. Thanks for being the sisters I needed. Go forth and prosper - and you know what I mean by "prosper."
Btw: Thank you so much to Jason, Christina, Rebecca, Kasandra, Ritchie, and Jaime (who was there in spirit); we are the class of 2011, and we're going to be great. There is so much love in this post right now.
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