In the past few years, I have become infatuated with just getting in the car and going. Mom’s going to the grocery store? I wanna go! Dad is running errands? Take me with you! I can’t wait for graduation because I’m hoping to take a massive road trip that summer with some of my best friends. Date ideas? Make a playlist of your favorite songs, pack a lunch, and drive to a lake a couple of hours away for a picnic. Any which way you look at it, there are fun advantages to being in the car. For me, it’s mainly relaxation and music. But that’s not all folks!
Every morning for the last two years I have had an hour long bus ride to get to school in the morning. At first, I would talk to people, then I began to sleep. After all, getting up at 5:45 am every weekday does start to have an impact. For Christmas two years ago I was given an iPod touch and I started listening to that on the bus ride every morning. It became a time to relax, enjoy nature, and think DEEPLY-and I mean deeply(*sarcasm*)- about life. In 8th grade, life consisted of schoolwork, a boy who I later learned was NOT who I thought he was, and occasionally some worthwhile thoughts about God and being a good friend. At some point I thought it might be kinda fun to write letters to this boy on my iPod. It wasn’t a big thing. I just would write a little something every once in a while. Most of the time I was angry with him… After 8th grade I realized how immature the whole situation was, and I deleted all the letters.
I’ve known Prince Charming as long as I can remember, but I really got to know him on a trip over the summer and that’s when I realized he was a pretty amazing Christian guy. We spent a lot of time together at the end of the summer, mostly at random church events, and when school started and I didn’t see him very often, I really missed talking to him. There had been some really awesome trust built over the summer, and not seeing him at school was weird. After about two weeks I started writing him a note on the morning bus ride every day. Most of them were happy. They were about the fun things we had done together, all the times he made me feel special. One day he started dating someone else… There were some sad, confused notes surrounding that. Some of my closer friends had seen the notes and at first thought it was cute. The it was determined “creepy, stalker-ish.” these descriptors make me laugh hysterically. The notes were just my own failure to communicate. I was settling with unshared thoughts. By February there were about 120 notes, all complete with a Dear ——, some with song lyrics, and many wishes for good days. Through some crazy technical stuff they all got deleted at this point. 6 months of letters-Kind of like a diary to someone else- we’re gone. I was upset. I cried a little, (a lot, actually…), but then decided to just start over. After about 5 more letters we went on another mission trip together to Mexico, and I learned there is nothing like true communication. ACR once again reminded me of how much fun it is to go riding around on white horses with Prince Charming… Haha just kidding! But really, it was a fantastic weekend and a true reminder of what friendship is supposed to be about. As Steve Hayes said, “A relationship is only as good as its communication.”
Next year I will be going to Tahoma High School (woot woot! Only 1 day of freshman year left…) I will miss the music, but… I will not have an hour long bus ride every morning, and I most definitely will not be writing notes. There is no fun in locking up secret messages in an electronic device when there is an amazing person out there to connect with. No bus rides next year?
BRING IT ON!
