Can You Teach Me How To Dougie?

Three summers ago, God placed me in Pasadena, California for the summer without a single person I knew and doing a summer project that was relatively unknown to anyone I knew. Weeks leading up to my departure I cried and cried and cried, terrified I would hate it and not make any friends. But something put me on that plane, and it ended up being the best and most life-changing summer I have ever had. Though I will eventually blog about what I learned in California, this post is not about the what, but the who. So for now, if you’re interested in what I did, visit the IT Project website.

Fast forward three years. This weekend 11 of the 22 people from the project came together for the marriage of one of our project leaders in Conway, Arkansas. Some flew from across the country, some drove 18 hours straight, and the result was exactly like it was three summers ago- a unique connection between us that is more special than any group of people I have ever been around, especially considering we live spread out across the United States, lead different lives and have seen each other only a handful of times since that summer.

A a mere few things about us that I love are that we…

get tremendously excited to see each person, can share the deepest parts of their souls as well as laugh for hours on end, can sit and talk about life at Ihop until the wee hours even though there is a 2 hour drive home, send prayer requests via Facebook or text and know it won’t be forgotten, can reminisce about old memories and easily make new ones, gleefully welcome new spouses/fiances, give meaningful hugs, constantly discusses the next time we will get to see each other (happily, it will be at my wedding 🙂 )

Thanks to these wonderful people in my life, this weekend was the exact refresher that I needed. I got to see lovely faces I haven’t seen in a long time, and have great times with those who I see more often. I got to share in the joy of three recent weddings, the anticipation of a newborn and tell my engagement story and wedding plans to 11 eager ears.

“Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints on your heart.”

-Eleanor Roosevelt