MAYWEATHER!!
Well, I didn’t find me a Kirk, but I DID find me a MAYWEATHER!!! Yes, Floyd Mayweather…the most disciplined, cockiest, best-looking 145-lb boxer to grace the sport. I was walking through the casino bumming about the fact that I just dropped 2 bucks on the grossest McD’s sundae I’ve ever eaten, chatting with Tric and Kris when I immediately slowed my walk, stared in amazement and mustered up a “oh. my. gosh.” with the very little breath I had left in me. There he was. FREAKING MAYWEATHER just strolling through the Palms followed by his little posse. Tric and Kris walked by like he was Joe Blow, but I knew…and he knew that I knew. He looked at me and kind of smirked probably finding my reaction entertaining. I’m sure he gets it all the time…but I’m just gonna tell myself that it was a love smirk….juuuust kiddiiin’. He was much tinier than I expected! I guess I should’ve assumed so…I weigh 10 pounds more than him and he’s SOLID. Anyhow, I’m pretty sure I didn’t stop talking about it all night. Anyone that initiated the faintest hello or even just made eye contact HAD to hear my big news J
Meanwhile, back in the room…Billy was texting a dude that snatched my pen & wrote his number in my journal while I was writing at the pool that day. I’m still trying to remember exactly how Billy got a hold of it (I think Kris read it off to him while I was reminiscing about our day at Pauly D’s pool party), but Billy being Billy initiated a text conversation with a, “Remember me??” Apparently my dear friend remembered (or at least pretended to) despite the fact that he slurred his words and reeked of hard alcohol at 11am that morning…That’s Vegas for ya. He asked “me” (aka Billy) what I was doing that night and Billy told him I was going to “In-N-Out” (the west coast’s version on McD’s). That’s obviously the cool place to be in Vegas on a Friday night. Anyhow, I know the conversation ensued past that, but hardly anything worth mention except that he told us that Lohan was at The Playboy Club that night. I thought she had some kind of DUI anklet on her leg? But then again Weezy has a cell phone and laptop in his jail cell. Lifestyles of the rich and the famous.
“BOOOOONE!”
*If you’re not a friend or fam, this probably would have very little interest to you. Just trying to save you a few minutes of your life J
We woke up the next morning to head towards Yosemite. It’d be a long day on the road…so I didn’t expect it to be very eventful, but it proved to be quite the opposite - I might go as far to say it might be the most pivotal moment of my life thus far.
For those of you that don’t know, I’m in between jobs right now. Graduated in May ‘09; did a 10-month internship with the young adults’ ministry at my church in Connecticut; and looking to find a “real job” now. I had decided I either wanted to work in sport event management or be a coach. I had interned at Octagon, a sport marketing company my junior year and LOVED it. They had a few things on the job board, but I couldn’t apply and then peace out for 45 days so I hollered out to my contacts and went from there. As for coaching, I knew I’d have to apply and hope to take phone interviews on the road cause preseason starts in August and they would probably have filled all of their positions by the time I got home. I threw out a few applications and understood that I may be losing out on a few opportunities since I wouldn’t be able to interview in-person, but I was willing to take the chance. I heard back from AppState just a day or two after I applied, and had mixed feelings. I initially planned to only apply for the positions under 5 hours away and preferably very close to CT, but I remember always going back to their job description and thinking how PERFECT it would be for me…if it was only in the northeast. I mentioned it a few times to Tric and eventually decided that I at least had to apply since I couldn’t kick it. I said, “What’s the worst that could happen? They hire me?” Tric agreed but would always jokingly say “GO TO BOOOONE!” whenever I got on her slightest nerve. A couple weeks passed and I hadn’t heard from AppState, so I figured it was pretty safe to assume that they had filled the position. I began getting VERY comfortable with the fact that I would be back in Fairfield where I had great friends, a great church, and my family only two hours away…so comfortable that the day before I wrote on one of my best friend’s FB walls: "i needed this trip to realize how much i would miss you guys if i were to move to CO or NC or any of my other CRAZY IDEAS.” Well, I got a call the day we were leaving Vegas to find out that I got the position. As soon as I hung up with the coach, I immediately started crying. I hated knowing that I’d be turning down an opportunity to pursue something I could be HAPPY and FULFILLED doing but I also hated knowing I’d leave everything I know and love. I remember Tric saying, “You have to go,” and feeling overwhelmed with emotion knowing that she’d much rather me here with her romping around and heading off to God-knows-where every weekend, but after spending the past year side-by-side, she also knows my heart and my thoughts and how God has literally wired me to coach. A peace immediately rushed over me, and my decision was preeetty much made there…but no decision is ever final without the advice of my two biggest mentors: Mom and Gramps. They were also having the same premonitions. My Mom’s only piece of advice otherwise was to “pray about it.” This was something I had been bringing before my big man for over a year – Where do you want me? What do you want me doing? How can I glorify you? He made it very clear that day that this was an answer to those prayers, and I am so grateful for his faithfulness. So ironically Tric, I’m “GOIN TO BOOOONE!” My emotions were initially so whacked out. I was excited and sad all at the same time, but as time goes on, it begins to transform into more and more excitement and less and less sadness. I’m excited to see what JC has up his sleeve for me in Boone, NC.
Fast forward a few days (last night)…Tric hands me a few pieces of her journal paper, folded in half and drowning in ink. We were just about to hit the hay so I pulled out my headlamp, put on my iPod and got reading. Two sentences in, I could already feel my eyes welling up with tears and the frog in my throat about to explode. I read through the eight pages of pure love and finally put it down, threw my arm over my face and lost it. Tric joined in the festivities, and we both began to take in the reality of it all. Thankfully we have Billy who is incapable of taking anything seriously so he provided a little comic relief, but I literally just cried and cried and cried. I honestly think that’s only the second time I can honestly say “I cried myself to sleep.” I know I’m pushin it, but as soon as I get home I’m applying T to AppState to see what the credit transfers and everything would look like. Sorry Lean :/ Let a girl dreeeeam a little.
YOSEMITE/HALF DOME!!!!
We stayed a night in Mammoth Lakes, CA because we ran out of daylight and still had a few hours to go till Yosemite. That night was basically spent just raping AppState’s website to get a feel for what my life would look like as of next month!
We headed to our campground the next morning, and after we pitched tent and got things situated, Kris and I thought it’d be fun to kick the soccer ball around a bit and get some energy out after the car ride. As soon as she saw that I had the ball, she took off in a FULL SPRINT as she cut for the ball. “KRIS WATCH OUT FOR THE…….!!!!!!”……. “….STRING.” She face-planted into the dirt as she tripped over the string that holds our tent’s rainfly down. Actually, I guess it was more like a HIP-plant. All I know is that when she hit the string, her body seemed to be floating parallel to the ground before the came down. She rolled over in a half-laugh/half-cry which quickly turned into a full-laugh. I picked up her glasses which were now nestled on her upper lip, and I think we all laughed for a solid 15 minutes.
That next morning was the day we had been anticipating for weeks! HALFDOME. We had switched our entire itinerary around just to do this hike. We were originally supposed to do it right after SanFran, but the cables that are used to get to the top wouldn’t be installed till June 15th (Google “Half Dome” if you have no clue what we’re talking about.) Anyhow, we packed everything up and went to bed around 8:30pm so that we could wake up by 5am to hit the mountain. The entire hike typically takes people about 12 hours so we wanted to be sure to be fine on daylight. The alarm went off. We ate breakfast, grabbed our packs, and got walking. It was about 10-15 minutes to get from the campsite to the trailhead, and we started up the first incline. Just a few minutes in, Kristina stops abruptly, and says, “I’m going back.” Billy happened to have the Flip on hand and immediately began taping the epic scene. She insisted that the bear signs were freaking her out and she wanted to go back to the campsite. Billy wouldn’t give her the keys, and somewhere in the midst of all the banter, Kyle says, “Kris, you’re really gonna go back? You’re already half way there.” I turned to Tric and mumbled under my breath, “Ooor one-millionth of the way there.” It was actually 377 steps to be exact. We counted on the way back.
Well, the rest of us Drifters continued on via Mist Trail – the shorter, steeper path that takes you right along the waterfalls. “Mist” is actually an understatement…You walk out of the first waterfall soaked from head to toe. The scenery along the way was unbelievable. Mountain vistas, canopied forests, open meadows…and then you get to Sub Dome – the enormous rock/mountain at the base of Half Dome. The switchbacks on Sub Dome are pretty exhausting, and once you get to the top of it…There it is: Two cables supported by rods and plywood scaling the side of the mountain. I swear it looks like the people are walking perpendicularly up the side of the mountain. We sat and got a little fuel in us as we each stared in awe at our next feat. The first few steps on the cables were pretty terrifying for me although I kept it under wraps. My garden gloves gave me very little grip on the cables and my feet were slipping a bit. Thankfully, the way up is the same way down, and after I made conversation with a nice man who was passing on his way down, I asked him how much I could buy his gloves off him for. He laughed and handed me his gloves. It’s people like that that give me hope for this world.
Well, we did it. We spent a little over an hour at the top of Half Dome eating lunch, taking pictures and making friends. Billy had the whole mountain laughing as he posed on a dangerous ledge with his Gatorade bottle, and screamed, “Get me now! I’ll send it in to Gatorade.” He was so close to the edge and had my stomach in knots, but he insisted. The way back down was probably a little bit scarier since your momentum takes you, but as long as your slow and steady, you get to live.
We returned around 4:15pm to find Kris nestled up in the tent after a day-long nap. The boys have been ruthless – cracking jokes virtually every minute. I don’t think they’ll ever let her live it down.
Much love,
a.hendricks
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