I still remember when we were introduced to each other. Frankly, I’m sort of ashamed of what I thought of her at that time. Honestly, the person I imagined her to be was a worse and more worldly version of the girl I know and love today.
Her name is Alexis and I met her at camp last summer. I actually had never been to a camp of any sort as a camper in my life. Well, actually there was that one time that I went for about two weeks to my close friends’ house for a “camp” experience type thing when I was twelve…but that doesn’t really count. Therefore, this was going to be my first time going as a camper. It was a family camp at a place called Covenant Heights in beautiful Estes Park, Colorado in August 2014. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon. I knew some of my closest friends (the same friends that I went to “camp” at their house/small farm) who live in Utah (where we live) were going to be arriving soon, and when they did, I greeted their daughter who had been at camp in Missouri and who I hadn’t seen in months and then kind of clung to them. We all had gotten there before most of the local people who were coming to camp, so we hung out together before everyone else started to show up. I guess my mom must’ve started talking to Alexis’ mom. I generally gravitate toward my mother when she’s making new friends, so either that’s why I went over to her or maybe it was because she called me…but either way, I remember standing next to her. Alexis came up at some point too and I think I recall her mother introducing her by name and age. I looked at her. She was wearing an Ironman shirt, jeans, and (if I remember correctly) either lots of bracelets or hair wraps. Her hair fell over her shoulders and she seemed sort of reserved at first. I honestly can’t exactly remember what I was wearing, but I would guess it was something like a T-shirt or casual-dressy blouse and shorts. My hair was probably up in either a bun or ponytail and I most likely had sunglasses on my head. From the outside, it didn’t seem like we’d really hit it off at all. So therefore, that evening at dinner (our first meal at camp), I sat with my Utah friends while Alexis went and ate with her friend Jordyn. This doesn’t mean that I didn’t glance back at her a couple times tho…
I remember that at some point, my mom told my friends and I to reach out to Alexis because it didn’t seem like she had a lot of friends there…and I honestly don’t even remember how it happened…but it did. We ended up sitting together during some of the meetings and one night she asked if I wanted to come back to the lodge with her and hang out. We were staying in a trailer fairly far way from the center of the camp…so I checked with my mom and she said it was fine. Another day, Alexis told me that she and some other people from camp were going shopping in Estes Park and invited me to go along. I went and had a good time. A bunch of us went on a hike as a group, and that included Alexis and I. We hung out more in the lodge and at least some of the meals we sat together at a table. There were games of Octaball outside (whether sunshine or—pouring—rain). Hours were spent in the game room playing/watching others compete in carpetball, ping-pong, Polish, and pool. One evening, Jordyn, Alexis, Kristian (her brother—who I’m now also friends with), and I decided to play pool together in teams (2 on 2). So Kristian and Jordyn teamed up while Alexis and I formed the other team. Though we decided to play best of 5 and had to continue the tournament the next day and Jordyn dropped out, (I recall that) Kristian still beat us even though half the time he was shooting with the pool cue behind his back. :P WHAT IS THAT KRIS?? :) Yes, he's talented… One of the days I was playing around on the keyboard at camp (yes, I played it more than once…I like pianos, OK???), she came over and played a bit too and we chatted for a while. Anyway, even through all that, my sister seems to think that it wasn’t until the final day of camp that Alexis and I really clicked. It was a day of good-byes and I remember talking to her at length before we went our separate ways. I think our two families were some of the last to leave. We took several pictures (yes, including selfies) and hugged each other before we left. She went to her home that isn’t too far from camp and my family went on to meet my aunt and uncle at Bryce Canyon for a camping trip. During that next week in Southern Utah, I sent Alexis a message over Facebook and we chatted some. Our messages weren’t necessarily constant, but we did talk quite a bit over the next several months. They got deep though. Yes, I wear my heart on my sleeve…but I hadn’t really known her all that long and I was very upset about something so I messaged her all about it. She really appreciated that…and it was only the beginning. In the first months of 2015, we started to message each other almost 24/7. Around that time, we both became avid fans of Owl City and bonded over that. It also went deeper. There were pranks, deep topics, freak-out fangirl moments, and just random messages about thoughts that came into our minds or things that were going on in our lives. There was a night that we started talking about something and she got so upset that she started crying and I kept insisting that she call me over Skype…so she did and we probably talked until midnight. That wasn’t the first video call, either. We only do them once a month or so but they usually last several hours. There have been times that it’s gotten to be about midnight or later and my mom had to unplug the internet to break up our calls. Thankfully, she understood what happened and that I didn’t hang up on her. lol. We recently were on a call that lasted between 2-4 hours and it was the last time we talked “face to face” before she left for camp. She’s been gone about 3 weeks now and has like 4 left. She really should come back because it kind of feels like a lonnnnnggggg time. I can’t message her all the time…which is a little strange since we’d start missing each other if we went a day or two…or even an hour or two sometimes without talking. Haha.
When I met her, she seemed like a more nerdy girl who was kind of a tomboy. Her friend Jordyn seemed more girly-girl…and a lot more like me…but a bit more-so. I look at myself as sort of the kind of person that would be right in between them personality-wise. BUT…(happily) everything worked out.
Needless to say, she is now one of my best friends…in fact, I call her my “long-distance best friend.” It will be great to talk to her again after she gets back from camp, to Skype her, and to hopefully one day see her in person again! I love you Lexi! :) <3
No comments:
Post a Comment