Life is full of emotions, some good and some bad. The feeling I had during the beginning of something that would change my life forever, wasn’t the best.  It felt like I had taken my seat on a roller coaster but before I could get off or even regret my decision — the ride took off. The only difference, this wasn’t going to be over in a couple minutes, I was stuck for the long ride.

That was when Grace Steffy entered my life, and she wasn’t leaving anytime soon.  We were polar opposites, almost nothing was alike. We met in summer music and, well, let’s just say she was not the biggest fan of me.  It also didn’t help that she wanted nothing to do with North Middle School

Even though she didn’t think I was the next best thing, I was the only one she knew in the whole school. So, just like human nature, she found herself staying close to what was familiar, me.  This is where I must admit something that isn’t the best, I tried to avoid her. I saw her in my english class and went the opposite direction. It wasn’t because I knew she didn’t like me, I didn’t find that out till a few years later.  I just didn’t want to deal with the “new girl.” I honestly don’t know where that mindset came from and I have never experienced it since.

As if English wasn’t enough, we would be cooking together.  We may have been a little upset in the beginning, but life was not having that thought.  It was in that classroom we discovered that we were exact duplicates of each other.

Throughout the time of us realizing that we were almost the exact same person, we were in many different situations that told us what the future would hold.  We bonded over stories of dysfunctionality : exploding bean bag stuffing over Shopko, tripping over absolutely nothing, still being terrified of the dark, and the mess that we were in wood shop.

Let’s just say that the word “friend” had been redefined.  From discovering our love of Disney songs, our genuinely strange families, Youth Camp, and existential crises at 3 A.M., it was easy to tell that this was going to change my life

This is all sweet and very cartoon like but if real life has taught us anything, it doesn’t work out the way it should.  My friend had to move across the country. I never knew what heartbreak was until that moment. This wasn’t just any old friend moving away, this was my only friend.  Somehow, we both distanced ourselves from anyone else because we never got sick of each other, we were the same person. This was my second family. All sorts of questions were running through my head,

“What am I supposed to do now?”

“Do I have any other friends?”

“What is going to happen on the weekends?”

“Why did this have to happen now?”

It turns out that she was asking herself the same things.

We packed up her house, every last mug bubble wrapped and every cupboard emptied.  I remember leaving with an unreasonable amount of food they couldn’t take with them.  I remember my entire family being involved in the process, even my brother’s friend was there to help.  What was I supposed to do now?

The answer is move on.  I mended my other friendships and made some amazing new ones, all while keeping in touch with the one in Pennsylvania. Our friendship never faltered, never fell flat.  I went out there for a month in the summer of 2018.

The stories of dysfunctionality didn’t end in Montana.  The car I drove out there stopped working in the middle of driving, a different one lost its power steering, another Youth Camp, this time with a mud pit and 115 degree weather, and being the teachers for a Bible school.   I found new dreams and love out in that state, and it was all because of the fateful, disastrous summer music class. So even though I hated that class, I guess it was all worth it in the end.