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March 11, 2004
old friends
bryonie came to visit a couple of weeks ago and i realized something happens, which i can’t explain, when old friends get together.… our friendship all started that fateful summer at camp before our senior year of high school. bryonie was the sheltered been-a-christian-since-the-womb character and i was the new question-everything-christian character (let’s just say that it was later revealed that bry worried about my salvation that first year :)). after our weekly reunions at camp, we met up again in college where we found that in order to spend time together we had to roll out of bed in the wee hours of the morning or stay up late into the night. we would meet together in the back of the chapel with our bibles and watch the sun rise or head out to the hang gliding bluff on sunday nights to stare at the stars and talk about god, the world, and boys. even the cold didn’t stop us as we just pulled out our thermal sleeping bags and sipped hot chocolate. in 1999 we both headed to france for a semester. i was in cannes and she was in aix-en-provence. we met up with each other in our respective cities and spent spring break in italy. oh, the memories of italy… strange train experiences, ordering sunday lunch with the use of hand motions, the soldiers that were everywhere, falling in love with florence and its shoes, getting lost in venice, getting shooed out of a restaurant in venice after realizing we didn’t have enough money to pay for our meal, almost getting thrown off the train on our way home because we were broke once again… and many more that i won’t mention here! … after france, we moved into the “big house” together where 6 of us lived my senior year of college. a time best remembered for evening meals and procrastination by drinking tea…. those were the days…. i also take partial credit for getting her and her husband together. we continue to keep up with each other through various modes of communication. i go to see her, she comes to see me. we talk about god, the world, and boys… but her and josh’s stint at cts will end soon and then they’ll be moving to england. the distance doesn’t scare me though. we’ve written letters since high school, e-mailed since it was invented and the traveling adventures will continue when i visit them. i revel in the memories we have, sing praises for her friendship today, and eagerly anticipate the memories yet to come… old friends are cool.
Posted by Charity at March 11, 2004 12:46 PM
i dig the photos charity... just wanted to let you know.
Posted by andy at March 11, 2004 11:03 PM
where we you guys when this pic was taken?
ps. yay for old friends!
Posted by rt at March 12, 2004 08:40 AM
uh, that's where "were" (not "we").
Posted by rt at March 12, 2004 09:15 AM
rt, we were standing on the deck behind their apt in stl when i was there in october.
thanks andy! we're still messing with them and trying to figure it all out. you were part of our inspiration for the photos.
this is one of the coolest photoblogs i've seen:
http://www.tenyearsofmylife.com
Posted by charity at March 12, 2004 09:24 AM
And don't forget coming to Tacoma over Christmas and walking along the Puget Sound and going up the Space Needle. And sleeping in questionable hostels in Italy and sharing a bed in Aix and laughing at my sleep talking and listening to White on Blonde and eating Easter Sunday dinner outside on the lawn in front of the seminary. And finding all the French Kiss scenes in Cannes and laying out on the beach and frying to death. And trying to be good camp counselors at Horn Creek, but not quite making it. And flying from the Philippines to Seattle to be in my wedding two days later! You were in shock, but such a good sport about it. And you and Janna were the highlight of the rehearsal dinner telling your stories about how J and I got together. And then your first visit to St. Louis and eating at a very crappy restaurant because I had no idea where anything was. So many memories. The best part of it all is the constancy I have come to prize when we think differently, even when we're miles apart, even when our lives are so different from each other's... England is nothing. We've weathered the storm and I think we're here to stay.
Posted by bryonie at March 15, 2004 09:05 AM
i forgot about that horrible restaurant! ha ha!... more memories... camp: hot tubs, stealing troy's car, pretzels and chubby bunny.... big house: a picnic with jeannette's homemade pizza out at cloudland canyon, timelines, the "special" olympics, wendesday night dinners with tim, caleb, and vange, watching that explicit french film with dr. hesselink sitting right behind us, three weekends of ice storms, 2nd annual christmas party... stl: getting locked out of your house and burning the roast... the memories just keep coming!
Posted by charity at March 15, 2004 01:12 PM
LA MER!!!!!!!!!
Glad my pizza went on a picnic.
I realize that most of these are Charity/Bryonie memories. But I often think of the Big House nostalgically, ESP tea time and I try to close my eyes and remember how everyone took their tea and in which mug...mostly I'm tryign to remember, because I can't quite fully.
French Kiss, and how it magically brought us all together, when our multifarious group needed some magic glue.
Posted by Jeannette at March 15, 2004 03:11 PM
Oh my word! That awful movie with Dr. Hesselink right behind us! You were there, weren't you Jeannette?? Erin was--that was the evening of the "fast car" song.
I think our christmas party is one of my favorite Big House memories... And then giving gifts to each other afterwards.
Jeannette, I remember your huge mugs--one with Van Gogh's painting of Arles on it, right? And always French Kiss. You people make my ass twitch.
Posted by bryonie at March 15, 2004 03:38 PM
i remember that janna had the plaid coffee cup, but for the life of me i can't remember which one was mine... hmmm... wierd. did it have something to do with france? hmmm...."i never thought i'd be the kind of woman to say this... but all men are bastards!"
Posted by charity at March 15, 2004 03:58 PM
Yes I was there at that awful French movie. Remember smoking at the top of the Bijou (or maybe that was with someone else...though we did go to the top of the Bijou). I had forgotten that Dr. Hesselink was there.
I remember going to Walmart later and getting matching Tshirts.
Yea, I've been trying to remember your mug, too, Charity. Bry had that little, blue one. I know that big pottery one was the "fiance" mug. Was yours white, Charity? Or was it a Zion church mug??? For some reason that pops into my mind... What was Erin's? And Alison had a van gogh mug, too...
Posted by Jeannette at March 15, 2004 05:59 PM
si pleine de poisson
Posted by Jeannette at March 15, 2004 06:00 PM
yeah! i do think it was the zion cup, now that you mention it... i think we ended up spitting off the top of the bijou! ha ha! (all of this makes me laugh out loud!) I have pictures of that night where we set our camera up on some random person's SUV and took a photo.... "spasm! spasm! the mucous is coming... lactose intolerance!!"
Posted by charity at March 15, 2004 09:31 PM
We were spitting off the Bijou. Yep, that was us. Was it that day that we washed our cars? One of the first really nice days of the spring as I recall...
I don't remember that blue mug, Dib. What did it look like?
Posted by bryonie at March 16, 2004 10:25 AM
Yes, we DID wash our cars!!! I remember all wearing tank tops, like we were going to get a tan or something.
I think it was just a small, pale blue mug. Solid color. LIke that little tea pot we used as a creamer, that you always left the milk to spoil in. I think you had that mug.
"Shut up! Is that a word?" "It is two words."
Posted by Jeannette at March 16, 2004 10:31 AM
ahhh... spitting of the bijou... talk about refined, well-mannered, young women of covenant... we must have been their poster children! hahaha!
"a healthy person expresses what they're feeling. express, not repress."
"then you must be the healthiest person in the world." - said with a fantastic french accent.
Posted by charity at March 16, 2004 11:08 AM
You would have to bring up the spoilt milk...I drove you crazy, didn't I? :) I remember the mug now! Where is the world did that thing go???
"You mean besides what we do together? ...I'm not sure...huh..."
Posted by bryonie at March 16, 2004 11:16 AM
I think we all lost something to The Big House Kitchen. I'll bet that blue mug is still there.
"Oh...Baaahhhb."
Posted by Jeannette at March 16, 2004 01:24 PM
I hate to be the editing snob, but it's really bothering me that Bryonie's name is misspelled right at the start of this entry. :)
Posted by bethany at March 16, 2004 02:42 PM
does anyone know the status of the big house's future? bry, has courtney said if they are able to stay there next year?
Posted by charity at March 16, 2004 04:38 PM
that's funny, bethany. i read the thing like a billion times and never caught the typo. i would have liked to have been able to say that it was on purpose, but alas, i can't. but it would have been funny if i had!
Posted by charity at March 16, 2004 04:40 PM
Aah, the Big House. I don't know what the plans are. I keep hearing rumors that they're going to use it for the next RD's, but I don't know for sure. I know Courtney loves it and wants to stay there next year too. They've got a great group of girls and they've thrown a few fun parties... Every time I go back I get very nostalgic. Dib, remember those last few days before we moved out after graduation? What a mess!!
"Love...c'est pas ca!!"
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