Thirteen years ago I spent two weeks in the Caribbean sailing and scuba diving while living aboard a Beneteau sailboat with six other teens, none of whom I knew on the first day. By the end of those two weeks I’d formed a friendship with a group of some of the most amazing people I’d ever met.
The group I met and who took me in during that summer were all from New York City. They were smart, dynamic, outgoing, had traveled the world, grown up together, and were instantly inspiring to me. We shared similar passions for reading, traveling, skiing, sailing, trying new things, and meeting new people. They were the kinds of friends that motivate you, that make everything an adventure, that you want to have in your life forever.
Even though two weeks does not seem like a lot of time to form a deep friendship, it was enough time for me to know that I wanted these new friends in my life as long as possible. I left feeling as though I’d know them forever and vice versa. We kept in touch. Sent cards. I visited them in NYC. And the next summer, we returned to ActionQuest for a sailing program in the Leeward Islands. The summer after that, we sailed and hiked in Fiji.
And then we were in college, working, traveling, figuring out our own life paths. We would lose touch and reconnect every now and then. I had a framed photo of us out in every place I ever lived even though at one point we hadn’t talked in years. These friends were ones who, though I may have never shared it with them, changed my life. They brought out in me a confident, adventurous, questioning, curious, brimming with life person. The experiences we shared in the Caribbean, in Fiji, and even when I visited them in New York, are all memories that I cherish and can recall vividly. They are times in my life that I am more than lucky to have had.
Thanks to the wonders of Facebook, I’ve slowly reconnected with this group of amazing friends. I know from their profiles and their status updates what they are doing and even that is enough to make me smile and remind me of the friendships I’ve had in my life.
When one of these friends said she’d be in DC for work it was too good to be true that our schedules matched up, and we planned to get together. We figured it’s been about seven years since we’ve seen each other and from the moment we hugged hello it was as if no time had passed. How do you catch up from seven years in an hour? You don’t. We started with today and got caught up on yesterday and it was incredible how we could still so easily relate and connect. We could have happily sat for hours talking and I instantly felt the same wave of happiness and inspiration from my friend that I had when I first met the NYC group. It was just so good to see her. And it will not be the last time we reunite.
If I haven’t told you before–Hilary, Kate, Molly, Liz, Jack, Walker, and Heather–you are incredible people and I am forever grateful to have had you in my life.
