An Unforgettable Summer
I left London on March 19th feeling more than a little depressed. My life was good - And I mean REALLY good. I finally had an amazing group of new friends, endless nights of deep talks with my roommates, a list of favorite restaurants, a slight thing with a Brazilian boy, and my bags fully packed for a 3 week backpack through Europe. It almost felt too good to be true. I hadn’t felt happy in a LONG time and so these feelings felt foreign. But then I got the call to come home (F U Covid). My amazing friends all booked flights home, the late night convos ended, the restaurants started to close, Brazilian boy went home, and my whole trip was cancelled with no more than a 10% refund. But i'm not here for the sob story, and neither are you. Corona did a whole lot of damage and I’m thankful it never affected myself or any loved ones health and job wise.
Once I came home, life hit hard. I felt like I was living my worst nightmare: moving back home. Life was over, or so it felt like it. Everyday was the same old cycle of feeling crazy. Wake up early (classes at 5 am because of the time difference), do my school work, take a nap, mope around in pjs, take another nap, try and workout and then go to bed. The fact that I was so close to my friends, but not able to see them made me feel even worse.
But then things started to change. What I thought would be the most uneventful summer, slowly turned into something special.
It all first started with a few facetime calls. A joke here and there. A rumored book club that never actually happened. And even a quick surprise birthday for my BFF.
The endless watching of ridiculously good Netflix series (queue Tiger King), baking of banana bread, and going on long walks ended immediately and were replaced with socially distanced activities.
In comes The Friend Group: A small group, perhaps just four gals (sometimes five or six, but mainly four) Brown hair beauties (only partially including myself), that were eager to dive into whatever adventure awaited.
It all started with a picnic. A tapestry placed down next to the lake topped with a #7 from Sergios, a bottle of rose, a tequila cocktail, cannolis, cookies, strawberries, cheese and a little salad. A million laughs later and my quarantine depression felt like it was immediately gone. We left buzzed, tummies loaded, and hearts full.
From then on the plans just came together on their own. And that’s how the summer went.
Imagine this: four girls in a car on their way to Delaware, with an (almost) empty apartment, WAY too many bottles of wine (some worse than others…all I’m saying is the Chardonnay by Bread and Butter should be illegal ), two full bags of tortilla chips, and determination to make this the ultimate girls weekend. Call it cheesy, I call it paradise. We began with a wine night, somewhat casual, somewhat dancing crazy, belting our hearts out. A few walks around town, some good bites, a quick trip to the beach, another quick trip to Baltimore (I still think about that Lobster roll), and finished with two more nights of being spontaneous. To say this was the summer of saying ‘yes’ would be an understatement. These few nights were just the beginning; we had no idea how much better it would get from here.
Next came a trip to Lake George, New York. Six girls and four days, filled with activities upon activities. A three hour drive, with a short night of stargazing. The next morning commenced with an early rise, fresh homemade bagels, and a walk down to the water. A few ski runs later, and tosses off the tube and we went on our way. Cliff jumps among rowdy and drunk men. Two minutes of staring down into the water before I had the courage to jump off the highest shelf (couldn’t let my ego go in front of all those strangers). Next off to the bay for some relaxing and then down to the waterfalls. Then pizza night. Millions of toppings but most important: peperoni. The rest of the weekend was filled with buggy hikes, good food (lots of Chunky Monkey from Ben and Jerry’s) and ended with a boat rescue from park rangers mid hike (I wish I was joking).
Next moved on to a few days down the shore, a billion and five sleepovers, random house parties and even a career change to be a professional rollerblader (you can now call me hot wheels).
The first day the four of us decided to go rollerblading we all met at a parking lot and geared up. I have never laughed as hard as I did that day, watching my friends put on elbow pads and send themselves off hills (barely a hill, just enough to make them fly). I don’t think there was a time I went blading and didn’t nearly pee myself from laughing. Mid way through the summer we found an actual outdoor roller rink that became a regular destination. Who knew the activity could be so therapeutic, but so thrilling at the same time? (I'm not sure thrilling is the right word, but you know what I mean).
Other fan favorite activities turned into painting, going to the driving range, kayaking, extreme wine nights, walks around the neighborhood, ice cream dates, swimming, dancing, celebrating every Friday and even a little tennis.
8 o’clock rock deserves its very own mention. What is it? Waking up EARLY, and getting the first run on the smooth water. Skiing, wakeboarding and falling. Each time with its own theme. Each time with major improvements. I seriously have not gotten out on the boat as much as I did this summer.
I’m currently sitting outside, drinking coffee and trying to wrap my head around every detail and story. However I know I can’t explain each memory and actually create a scene in which perfectly describes each night. Each weird night. So for you, the readers sake, I’ll sum it up with a few moments. Just short sentences that will have little to no context.
A few broken hearts within the group that made for the perfect excuse to drive with the top down and scream. A small gathering at a house that led to a broken table. Too many hikes filled with debates, banter and a lot of sweat. Scratch that last one - too many hikes to the middle of nowhere and ending with a much needed rescue. A drive in horror movie with a weird night to follow. Too many pickup trucks for comfort. A long list of questions asked to all the new faces. (To name a few, 1. What’s your favorite movie? 2. You’re at the altar, your spouse decides to leave you for the priest, do you A. switch with the priest and continue the wedding or B. run out and embarrass yourself?). Thrift finds that felt too good to be true. Sneaking out of the basement to avoid awkward confrontation. Major dance parties every Friday. TGIF. Multiple bonfires. Middle of the night drives (actually just one, might regret it one day). Painting wine glasses, turned girl confessional, major crying night. Board games, Cards Against Humanity, Wii Sports, Poker… Getting pushed into the lake fully clothed (or so my friends say I fell in on my own). More wine nights. A marriage of iguanas. Lake days nearly every day. Body slamming the ocean waves. More awkward hangouts. A dinner party here and there. A power outage and crazy storm in the city that left me stranded. A garden party/birthday bash. Swimming in any pool available. Skinny dipping. Blasting any and every song. Biking instead of driving. Timer cam pics for every occasion each with their own unique pose. Taylor ham, egg and cheese with salt, pepper, ketchup after any late night. Cooking way too much food. And more girls nights out than anyone could imagine.
To say this was a spontaneous summer would be an understatement. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, this was the “summer of saying yes”.
Of course not every day was lived out of a movie. I still held a part time internship, spent days off with family and took a few days for myself. The summer still had pockets of drama and sadness, and just plain old days not going as planned, but hey I'll take it.
Cheers to the best summer yet and many more to come. Thank you a million times and more to everyone that was involved. Life just wouldn’t be the same without you.
