Last Wed I drove to WashPa, to Sams house so we could fly out of Pitt the next day for our much anticipated Semester at Sea Fall 06 Reunion! This reunion was so hard to get together. We had been tossing the idea around for nearly a year, discussing how fun it would be and possible locations. Finally one day Sam and I were irritated that it wasn't happening so we said "fuck it, were coming to CA!" and bought our tickets.
I don't know how to describe the conditions on semester at sea that brought us all together as friends. There were a lot of us that were part of our crew on ship and towards the end it started to unravel. Its strange, living on a ship and traveling the world with strangers. You bond so quickly due to these completely foreign and challenging experiences and it creates a connection unlike that of any "real world" friendship. It's like being in a car accident with a friend...or getting kidnapped with a friend...unless you are there in the moment, you can't explain what it does to you. Semester at sea was a lot like that. You left with this catalog of memories that were completely bizarre to everyone in your "real life" and you couldn't seem to find the words to help them understand, or relate, or even care really. You carry on with your regular life and its so refreshing talking to people who can help you to integrate those experiences into your character without putting off the people at home who don't understand. But you quickly learn how different your perspectives are, your families, lives, morals, etc. Things change really easily outside of those constrained ship environments. Suddenly you feel like you don't know them in everyday life and even that you don't fit in their lives anymore. It happens to a lot of SAS friendships and it happened to some of my closest ones. I'll always care for them but we just weren't meant to be friends in the long run.
SO, we all had fears that in the 3 years we hadn't seen one another, our friendships would have suffered similar fates to the friendships I just described. Cut to flight day...Sam and I woke up early for our flight and everything went smoothly that day. Pitt-Denver. Denver-Santa Barbara.SB-San Jose where Micah came to pick us up and drive us the hour or so to Carmel Valley where he is living. Micah, Sam and I got some beer and drank and his jeep and gossiped about our lives for an hour or two before James and Bobby landed. We went and picked them up and it was so good to see everyone!!! I saw James in Sept, I see Sam all the time but I haven't seen Micah since GA in May of 07 and I haven't seen Bobby since Dec 6th 2006, the day we landed in Ft Lauderdale after Semester at Sea. Our fears about not being on the same page with one another anymore could NOT have been more false. We picked up right where we left off. :)
Initially we anticipated Bobby, James, Micah, Sam and I would be the crew. Friday we get up and go for a hike while Micah is at work. Were sitting in the sun waiting for him to get back and who does he show up with but Whitney!!! Totally shocked! And then there were six :)
The only words I have to describe just how awesome this vacation was are: Fucking ridiculous. Amazing. and Epic. I think that says it all. But if not, ill continue rambling about why it was so perfect.
So after Whitney arrived we went grocery shopping, well the girls did. The boys stayed home and ate peanut butter or something. We bought tons of stuff so we could cook dinner all week and not have to spend a lot of money which was brilliant and delicious. Whit made stuffed shells, Bobby made spectacular specialty pancakes, I made mexican lasagna and Sam made broccoli alfredo pizza which we housed after playing burma ball for hours and drinking wine. Keep in mind this weekend consisted of consuming copious amounts of food every hour and intermittent drinking when our faces weren't being stuffed with food. Six pounds later, I'd come to regret all that exuberant consumption.
We cooked some delicious burgers to eat at the formal dining table and played power hour, taking care to stack our beers in a formidable tower. Micah starts dancing on chairs and we're all sloppy so we danced in the kitchen for awhile. James and I engaged in a power struggle/awkward display of strength that ended in my upper arms and lower legs being absolutely covered in black bruises that will show up in every picture taken during vacation from this point forward. Just what I was hoping for! So I was sad, he hugged me, we had a moment of brother/sister reconciliation and resumed the drinking at a local bar...with a vengeance.
Day 2: I got up and ran/hiked the trails, taking care not to get lost. I figured if I kept walking in one direction the park would have to end. After like 45 minutes I used my smarts and turned around. When I got back Micah showed me a map of the park. Ya, I would have met the parks "end" about 10 miles later...probably in another city.
We all had family breakfast and laid out by the filled-in pool hole until it was time to throw on some clothes and relocate to the tennis courts. The boys played tennis, Booby and I threw the football for awhile and Sam and Whit laid out in the corner. Sam and I tried playing shoeless tennis but the courts were so sweltering hot that we both ended up with souvenir blisters on our feet and had to retire to the playground. James whipped us all off this spinny toy and then we took photos of our amazingness as we all lept from the swing set like giddy 10 year olds. It was perfect. We ate, you know to keep our schedule, and went to do some wine tasting. After that was some SERIOUS Burma Ball, dancing like euro trash and that was that.
Day 3: We packed lunch and drove up the highway to this breathtaking overlook. We perched on the edge (our mothers would be furious), poured some beers and took it all in from our lawn chairs. Then we packed it up and hit the beach for a bonfire. We did cartwheels in the sunset, roasted some dogs and prayed that the sewers wouldn't spew. James and I saved the beach from a camp fire gone bad...no body thanked us. We went back to the house and played some ferocious rounds of Kings that required us to put our chins on the table if we drew an odd number and to chug our entire beers if we said anyone's names. I regret mandating the latter be a rule as I ended up chugging three just opened beers back to back because I am an asshole and can't remember my own rules. Like I say...there are rule breakers and rule makers in this world... :)
Day 4: We tanned "on deck" and shared porch juice with the virgins (to the drink, not for real virgins). We then got duded up in team all-star gear and went to the roller rink where we paid $7 for an afternoon of sheer, sweaty delight. Wearing jerseys and sweatbands we tore that shit up. Sam tied for first in the limbo competition (she competed against a slew of 8 year olds). I took down an old man and bruised my tail bone...but I also survived an attempted recruiting by a Roller Derby mama and learned some roller skating tricks in the process. It was awesome.
We then walked up the shore to the pier and had dinner. You'd be surprised how few people said stuff to us about our outfits... Then I found some bubble gum ice cream which is a throw back to my childhood when my gram would take all the grand-kids to the ice cream shop down the street and that's what I would get. I rarely see this stuff and haven't in years so it was a nice treat. We went back to the house and played some Uno. Well we all played, Micah cheated. We enjoyed the ambiance before packing up our shit and getting ready to go.
The next day we all headed to our respective airports and flew home. I drove up from Pitt and got in around 1am. My dad was really frightened when he saw my bruises by the way...
SO. Epic. yes!? yes.
The best part about all of this is the feeling we all left with. In regular life it is rare to meet people that share similar passions for travel and adventure. These people do. They are all doing interesting things with their lives....Teaching in Korea, plans to go to Europe, packing up and moving to Cali, spending months as an RA in 3 countries, looking for meaningful jobs....Life is good for everyone. We're on making our own ways, living the good life, and its inspiring. They all bring something different to the table that mixes and creates this intoxicating concoction (yes, aside from all the booze you people are still intoxicating to me) that is rejuvenating. It makes you want to make a to do list of all the things you've put off doing and actually do them. It gets my creative juices flowing and I like it. :) It was just what I needed...a family reunion. I love you all! (BFFL- We made it!)
No comments:
Post a Comment