Here's to the next adventure! The eleventh reunion of Rebecca, Sara, and myself. Let me explain a little something to you:
A lot of friends will be there until the end, but Rebecca and Sara enormously exceed the level of “friends;" they’re my sisters. We share a weird unbreakable bond. We share inside jokes no one could understand. We share an amazing, memorable trip together every summer. We share an uncanny ability to fight the hassles of time and distance. Our companionship demonstrates that moving doesn’t signify separation, and sheds a new light on the cliche phrase “Best Friends Forever."That was a piece of a narrative I wrote in 11th grade, entitled “The Most Irreplaceable Things Come in Threes." The gist of it is, some people were born and raised in the same town their entire life, maybe calling people their best friends on and off, maybe having the same one since pre-school. To those people, their heart is where their home is--everything they may know and love is in that one special place. But to me, home is where my heart is, and my heart is all over the place.
This one place in particular is Mount Pleasant, North Carolina, where I lived from first - third grade and get to come back and visit almost every summer. The three of us have been on several different adventures throughout the years and this year we're actually headed out to explore Charleston, South Carolina tomorrow.
But first I made the road trip from Auburn to Mount Pleasant, about a 6 hour drive, equivalent to a lengthy solo concert, a few states, a few selfies, and several ounces of caffeine consumption. But I think I made it in record time, thanks to dodging minivans and not allowing myself to be too distracted by the enormity of stick figure family windshield stickers or, the nearer to Charlotte, the more Nascar paraphernalia. I mean I have as much of an appreciation for Jeff Gordon as the next girl, don't get me wrong.
(Hotlanta)
Upon rolling into town I went immediately to Sara's grandparents' house, where a giant, homecooked Southern meal, along with my best friends, were waiting. Talk about good timing. I'd take fried chicken, broccoli casserole, and good company over fast food on the road any day! We spent some quality time with her grandparents and checked out their rose garden. But first you have to check out Becca's face.
I then had the pleasure of meeting Ollie, the crazy cute Corgi (with normal eyes in real life, promise):
Our first night together always comes with enough giggles, gossip, and inside jokes to make any third grader proud, and we even finally settled on a new band name after 13 years of discussion: Triple Trouble. Our "band" began in second grade, and I have a composition notebook full of original songs and detailed explanations of dance moves/ Razr scooter moves to prove it. All that to say, our musical talents may not be top notch and our life goals may no longer be to be pop stars, but at least the name's settled.
Today we went on a little day trip with Becca's parents to Sliding Rock, near Brevard, North Carolina, to casually slide all the way down a waterfall into a freezing cold plunge pool of water and rocks, multiple times. It was such a fun day and diva klutz over here only walked away with a few injuries and one ripped pair of shorts! (story below)
Y'all, going down this thing is a lot crazier than it looks. Pretty much the second your butt hits the freezing cold stream of water you're slipping/flying down that thing faster than green grass through a goose (there's a good Southern expression for ya). And the water, especially the pool you fly into, is like ice! Definitely shocking, and definitely photo op-worthy:
SO many props to Becca's mom for capturing this train of hilarity:
Sara's face in that second one, man, I want that blown up as an emoji or something. Thank you so much for these photos, Mrs. Sydney!
We also spent some quality time with Becca's niece and nephew, playing in the more still water / climbing on rocks / brooding on rocks:
This was a pivotal moment in life: because it was the moment right before THE moment when I began the scurry back across those rocks, lost my footing, pretty much did the splits, aaand straight up ripped the butt seam of my shorts, Spongebob-style. We were all on the ground (or rocks) laughing our butts off about this, while my butt's actually far more exposed than it should have been. I then managed to slip again, scrape up my knee, and then after putting on another pair of shorts on loan from Becca and attempting the slide again, hit my funny bone so hard on a rock that I lost feeling in my left hand for an entire lengthy 10 minutes. Only in the Rife Life, y'all...
We then wrapped up the day with a nice, normal, but no less awkwardly photographed roadside picnic.
I'll leave you with that. I'm just so happy to be here and to be with my other 2/3 again! We have so much fun together. Back to the road again in the morning! I think I've spent more time in transit lately than in one specific place. Until next time (and hopefully with no more torn clothing stories)...
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