This summer began with Rachael still in Virginia and Natasha working at a camp. Our lives have become so busy, and taken us so many different places, I was unsure if I would even be able to see any of the girls this summer. Luckily after sending out the usual, "I'll be in town, mark your calenders" message, Hannah, Sunny and Khira were ALL able to hang out! I felt so fortunate that such a majority of our precious group could gather again, especially Sunny whom we had not seen in over a year. We met up, took pictures by the missouri river, ate dinner and met the world's worst and creepiest waitress ("what kind of fries are they?" "regular ones", "uhhhh...."), got ice cream and then sat talking the rest of the night. It was such an ordinary evening, except for all of us it felt so much more, it being so extraordinary for all of us to be together again. We had two momentous life events to celebrate and share together: Khira got married (!) and Hannah graduated from college. After five years, we were finally starting to really grow up (me last of all) and embark on that time in our lives where we become self-supporting, have bills, real relationships, careers...in short we begin to have adult woes. Our 2006 concerns of our crushes, getting into college, taking the ACT, complaints about a certain co-worker, arguments with parents were all so distant now. And yet it was comforting to know we still haven't changed entirely: we still shared all our dating stories from the past year (providing many laughs), and we still spent a fair amount of time reminiscing about the old bosses, coworkers and the job that brought us together five summers ago. We parted confident of our friendship renewed, all aware it probably would be another year or more before we may all be together again. Yet with such friendships, time is of no concern for there will always be a bit of the 2006 spirit in each of us to bring us together again.
Then summer went by so very quickly. All of a sudden my research was done, my summer in St. Louis completed, and my parents were once again annoyed with the inordinate amount of crap I managed to bring back home, including the rescue of another abandoned hamster. Hannah spent a crazy busy summer working 50+ hours as SUPERVISOR (an antique girl finally got promoted!) at good old worlds of crazy fun and applying for jobs daily, finally landing a job she loves. Khira spent the summer in Richmond, missing her husband who is serving our country in Afghanistan. Sunny worked with cute little children, and I have no doubt that there was never any luckier group of children to have such a teacher. Rachael and Natasha continued on with graphic design and camp life guard, respectively.
At the end of summer, Khira and I were fortunate enough to be able to visit Natasha at her school in Joplin. What began as a short day trip quickly extended to a two day trip after very little convincing by Natasha. We got to visit her lovely school, meet her friends, see a waterfall that looks like a mini niagra falls, drive through the tornado damage (words cannot do the devastation justice), and watch a corny romantic comedy that we could not resist laughing at. We even got to attend one of her classes at Ozark Christian College, an experience so fascinating to Khira and I because of how unique her school truly is. Class opened with a prayer and a song, and the professor was incredibly friendly and introduced us to the class. The lecture was interesting, and even after 15 years of weekly sunday school I learned an incredible amount about the bible in that hour. After the visit ended, Khira and I headed back in her car, completely missing the exit for the precious moments museum we had looked forward to visiting. We spent the last hour and a half of the drive with the windows down, listening to country: in my opinion the best way to drive through missouri.
The last story to tell is a simple one. Hannah and I went to our typical restaurant, ordered a cocktail now that we're both 21. I was lucky to get useful advice from Hannah about the job search process, for which she has now completed and which I am now reluctantly beginning. We discussed our 'futures', previously loosely defined as post-college life, now quickly and dauntingly becoming our present. And then we discussed our favorite topic, our dating lives. Its nice to commiserate with a fellow single lady on the joys of navigating the 20-something dating scene, both of us still completely happy to be unattached at this stage in our lives.
I fear I have already failed in my mission and that this post is incredibly boring. Let me attempt to redeem myself by getting sentimental. I struggle to put words to my thoughts, to express what these five ladies mean to me. It's difficult to understand that two summers working together an in antique photo amusement park shop could create the kind of bonds that would persist five years later. Perhaps it's because we spent arguably the most formative years of our lives together talking in a tiny little shop about all our past stories, realities and dreams. Perhaps it's because we worked 50+ hour weeks, mostly with each other, perhaps because we had time to goof around and play dress up everyday. I can hardly separate in my memories being 16 and these ladies, the two having become so fused in my mind. Its truly a gift that when I see these ladies again, that I get to goof and joke and talk as if no time has passed at all. And even though now with our busy lives we only get to see each other a few times a year, our affection for each other has only grown, and I think will continue to grow as time passes. Where other friendships may fade over time, and even end when common interests change, ours seems to grow stronger even because we are each so different and always have been. I cherish my friendship with each girl, because each individual brings such an important dynamic to the group. As excited as I was five years ago to think about all our futures, so I'm excited to see where our lives take us five, even ten years from now. I'm excited to think about going to weddings, meeting little children, and possibly even a vacation with these ladies when we're old and need breaks from our teenagers. Maybe I'm jinxing us, and maybe friendship 15 years later is too much to hope for, but then again our friendship now is quite against the odds. At the very least, 15 years from now I know I'll get 5 very lovely christmas cards in the mail every year, and I'll smile as they each momentarily bring me back to 16, back to that magical summer of 2006 and all the memories, photos and stories we shared.
I love you ladies, and thank you for being a part of my life.
-Katie
