But that's only the broad introduction for the real point of this post.
The title of the post is admittedly Cedar Point related. I'm trying not to talk about it too much, because I'm afraid I'll make people sick of it. I think I may have inadvertently done that already, although you guys have to understand that this is major jumping in the pond stuff, which I've been thinking about a lot since, for the next few months, I'll be able to say "A year ago from this moment, I was in France." As I try to remind myself whenever I click over to the blog for a quick post, life is a pond. Just because I'm home doesn't mean I'm done jumping in.
Grr...the title. I've been sidetracked again. Anyway, titles. I was browsing around the employee forums and came across a couple people who were discussing which ride was the best to work on, and one of them said something like "Well it's really not the ride you're working, it's the crew you're working with. The right people can make anything fun."
I think it's a great theme for this spring break.
See, when I get back to classes and work I know the drill, now everyone's going to ask me what I did. The answer is that I hiked with my family for an afternoon, bought a new coat, watched a couple movies, did laundry and, by way of having done all this with people I care about, I am willing to bet that I had just as much fun as you.
It made me so happy to be able to spend time with my best friend this week. This past quarter was really rough for me, especially where scheduling was concerned. And then this week we got to ride bikes, hang out at the dog park, and then spend pretty much all of Thursday together.
We bought books, visited a car dealership, took a walk around Wal*Mart, went to Petland and the dollar store and had a fast food dinner and walked around the mall for an hour.
Some people took expensive trips to exotic places over break, but let me tell you that I'll take Thursday with Sam over all of that any day of the week. Spring break doesn't have to be about plans--it can just be strolling around town with your best friend talking. With the right people beside you, you make your own fun.
So what were my plans? I didn't have any.
But we discussed the texture of lint brushes, and chased down the one used copy of Sam's BIOS book in all of Athens. We joked about buying a paddleboat, and read the names off of wooden leaves. We walked from photo to photo in the Market on State, and Sam won three presidential coins. We bought textbooks and coffee, and a wristwatch and questionable fake cologne, and roast beef sandwiches. And I had more fun doing all of that than I've had in a long time.
Sometimes it's hard because my schedule takes up so much of my life, and any of us can say the same. Finding the free time where it can mesh isn't easy to begin with. You find a lunch hour, and then lose that lunch hour, and then make a new one when you're not meeting with a group during that time or anything.
And when you've got a friend who you love like a sister, who you consider part of your family, you leave those lunch hours wishing you could just ditch all your classes and walk around the mall talking about which boys we had crushes on in fourth grade. Especially when being best friends has become something natural and effortless. Sometimes you get angry that you've got classes and work and obligations to fulfill, because it's being with your friend that makes you happy.
And then you have to make everything you can out of those rainy Thursdays in Wal*Mart, have to make that your way of restating all the old unspoken tenets of the BFF code.
You are family to me. I will always be there for you. Being your friend means the world to me. I'm not always great at showing it, but please don't forget it.
This week, I was reminded that it's not about where you go, or what you're doing. The company makes all the difference. The simplest of things can make the biggest difference in a life when you realize that friendship made them beautiful. Watching the stars at 2 in the morning. Getting caught in a thunderstorm between the corn and the soybeans. Standing in line for a midnight movie. Digging a moat around the tent. Spending those times with my best friend, all of those became stories, and about a hundred others besides. Twelve-year-old bikinis. Pushy the horse, and vending machine bouncy-balls. Shoeboxes full of Crayolas. Unicycling in Walter Hall. Red figure kraters. Guess Who.
Hmm...if I don't stop myself now I'm just going to be listing for the rest of the night. I suppose I've made my point. If you're the one person I know reads this blog, that paragraph probably made complete sense to you. If you're not, the point is that the right friendship can make all of those things significant.
An adventure isn't always something you plan, an adventure is something two people go out and create.
What did YOU learn this spring break?
