Dear Erica,
It's weird to think that this is my last letter to you. I can't help but feel a little sad writing this, because I know it means the conclusion of our summer. The thing about writing a letter (or typing it in my case) is that I have to accept that I'm not going to get an immediate response or any response at all. I have to come to terms with the fact that perhaps I am writing purely for myself sometimes. In these letters to you, I've laughed, cried, felt hopeful, and totally missed you. This is not the last time we will find ourselves seperated, but in writing to you these past few weeks it has given me new hope that we will ALWAYS be BFFs. I'm so glad you are home now and we can hang out for real and not just write to each other. This summer has brought us many new memories and new friends and I can't wait for our future adventures; together and apart. I'm not sure if I will ever reread these letters and judging by their lengthiness at times, I'm not sure you will read them either. If for any purpose they will serve as a documentation that we exist, and our summer existed, and that our friendship will for ever exist. I will conclude this last letter with one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite songs. It's one of those quotes that I want to live my life by, and hope that someday I will find it within myself to fully be able to.
Have no envy. Have no fear.
Love,
Stephanie
Tuesday 14 August 2012
Sunday 12 August 2012
Letter #22
Dear Erica,
We could not have left at a better time. Last night my uncle fell asleep with the TV on. He was sleeping on the couch in the family room of our house and keep in mind that I resided in a hallway. There were no doors, walls, or separation of any kind between me and that stupid television. At all. It was on the ENTIRE night. That's right, from 10 p.m. until 9 a.m. I was listening to the Olympic, the news, and whatever else was on TV at 3 in the morning. Gahhhh! You know those people who say, "I didn't sleep at all last night" but really they were only awake for like an hour? Well, I wasn't one of those people unfortunatly. There is a particular feeling that you have while you lie in bed contemplating storming down the stairs and smashing the TV, and it feels very similar to insanity.
Welllll at about 6:15 I decided I was up and didn't try to sleep anymore. Instead I made you a short and slightly deranged film about my room and iMessaged it to you. I also took a video of me on the hammock while I waited for my fam to be ready to leave. Typical grandfather moment: we were going to take a family picture in front of the house as we do every single year and after I tried explaining how Justin has a camera with a timer on it so he can be in the picture too, my grandpa completely rejected any possibility of him not taking the picture and proceeded to do so much to my distress. We left the house and went on our way to blueberry picking. When I got there my eyes had the glorifying experiance of landing upon the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. Of course this happened while I was surrounded by my sweaty and screamy family members and to top it off I was rocking a slept-in-braid, and our school tshirt. I must say that my resemblance to an armadillo in that moment was striking. We picked away at those blueberries and then got in the car on the way home. Here is a list of some of the stuff that i spied while driving home:
A splendid cottage
Love,
Stephanie
We could not have left at a better time. Last night my uncle fell asleep with the TV on. He was sleeping on the couch in the family room of our house and keep in mind that I resided in a hallway. There were no doors, walls, or separation of any kind between me and that stupid television. At all. It was on the ENTIRE night. That's right, from 10 p.m. until 9 a.m. I was listening to the Olympic, the news, and whatever else was on TV at 3 in the morning. Gahhhh! You know those people who say, "I didn't sleep at all last night" but really they were only awake for like an hour? Well, I wasn't one of those people unfortunatly. There is a particular feeling that you have while you lie in bed contemplating storming down the stairs and smashing the TV, and it feels very similar to insanity.
Welllll at about 6:15 I decided I was up and didn't try to sleep anymore. Instead I made you a short and slightly deranged film about my room and iMessaged it to you. I also took a video of me on the hammock while I waited for my fam to be ready to leave. Typical grandfather moment: we were going to take a family picture in front of the house as we do every single year and after I tried explaining how Justin has a camera with a timer on it so he can be in the picture too, my grandpa completely rejected any possibility of him not taking the picture and proceeded to do so much to my distress. We left the house and went on our way to blueberry picking. When I got there my eyes had the glorifying experiance of landing upon the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. Of course this happened while I was surrounded by my sweaty and screamy family members and to top it off I was rocking a slept-in-braid, and our school tshirt. I must say that my resemblance to an armadillo in that moment was striking. We picked away at those blueberries and then got in the car on the way home. Here is a list of some of the stuff that i spied while driving home:
A splendid cottage
A lonely farmer
A wishing well
An antique shop with a metal rooster
A building shaped like an igloo
Geese in a pond
a big wheels bike in a field
A bird feeder on a tall pole
a tree painted on a roof
A GIANT piggy bank
A sassy "oh yeah. We're open" sign
Windows full of wedding dresses
When we got here I wasted some time on the computer, then showered for 20 minutes. I tried to do this whole face mask and treatment stuff by using natural methods like an egg or a piece of ice. It felt kind of good but the real pleasure was just in having a bathroom to myself for more than 5 seconds. Last night while I was mid-shower a certain cousin of mine came waltzing in and washed up while I stood mortified in the shower (thank God the curtain is opaque)... Not good times. I forgot to tell you (I think) but Rachel has been pretty obsessed with sneakily eating bacon because she knows my grandparents will eat it and she also knows she's not allowed to have it. So a couple of nights ago I was eating some salad and I was going to put bacos on it (I'm assuming you know what those are...) but I saw her there and I gave her some and let her believe that it was real bacon. She felt really sneaky and later thanked me for giving her bacon. Oh geez. ERICA!!! I just beheld online that you are coming home right this minute and here I am, rambling about bacon. OMG! I don't care if it's 2 in the morning but girl you call me ASAP!! I CANT BELIEVE YOURE COMING HOME! I think I'm going to explode or something. K stop reading this, call me. Now.Love,
Stephanie
Saturday 11 August 2012
Letter #21
Dear Erica,
I wrote you such a long letter last time that I thought I would spare you from reading another for a few days. Sooooo Thursday was really rainy here, so we mostly just chilled at home. My family went bowling but I was being a moody teenager and decided to stay home because my dad was annoying me. I drove my mom to Walmart and didn't do as well as I could have. There was this dude pushing shopping carts in the parking lot and I was trying to drive past him but he was in the middle of the street. Instead of getting to one side he tried to push the carts faster, so I sort of followed him a little still trying to get past him. My mom started yelling at me to just stop moving and let him get past. He finally got to one side and my mom says out loud, "go on" so I did. Apparently she wasn't talking to me though, she was talking to the dude, because we both started moving causing my mom to freak out and yell at me for almost hitting the poor man. I felt so stupid. After texting my camp friends about how bored I was, we went to dairy queen at like 9:30 which was honesly like the most exciting moment of my day. Yesterday we were supposed to go horseback riding but it was still pretty rainy so we decided to go to the library instead. They were having a scary movie festival with lots of food. It was super cute, but these were not just scary movies. These were HORROR MOVIES!! Cuddle buddy, I'm sure you are aware of how I feel about scary movies in general. Oh man, I was so scared. The first one we came into was just ending and I felt pretty cool because I was totally not scared and just thought the special effects were dumb, but I also didn't see the whole movie. The second one was The Ring, which is only rated PG-13, and it's not really gory at all. But I was SOOOO scared. I googled the movie while I was watching it so I could find out what happened and I wouldn't be startled. Regardless, I did that thing where you cover your eyes with your hands leaving only tiny spaces to see through them during most of the movie. After it was over I went outside for a little to calm down, and when given the option to go home, I STAYED FOR THE SEQUAL!! Eric, I didn't cry or anything!! I watched the movie and calmly covered my eyes when a particularly scary image appeared. Today, Saturday, I woke up and got dressed and went to shul. It's a pretty tiny shul, but sometimes there are cool people that visit. Like many many times this summer, I went with high hopes and got there to find 5 people that weren't my family members there. They were all old and some live here. I went back to the house to change and we went to the blueberry festival parade which was so cute. I felt like SUCH a loser after I did some self reflection. You know when the parade people throw candy for little kids to gather? Not only had I been scavenging candy as well, but I had gathered it in my skirt. Like a 5 year old does. You know, when you hold the end of your skirt and make sort of a bowl for the candy. Uchhhh I was so embarrassed after. I stuffed it all in the pocket of my sweatshirt and pretended it wasn't mine. I came home again, tried to read our AP book, got through one page, and gave up. My fam wanted to go to this rock concert by the water so I decided to go too. While my grandparents drove there and everyone else were behind me, I walked there. The whole way. By myself. Thats like a good 20-30 minute walk. TALK ABOUT HAVING NO FRIENDS! When I got there I sat with my grandparents for like 10 minutes and got super bored and had to walk around. Somewhere in my heart I expected the rest of my time there to play out like this: I was walking around by myself and prince charming came up to me while I was standing there looking attractive and asked if I was here by myself. After telling him about myself and him telling me about himself, we both fall in love and frolick into the sunset together. This day dream of mine has come in many many different forms this summer. Every day I expect it to happen in a different way and I anticipate it every moment only to be let down every single day when it doesn't happen. So as you can imagine, no prince charming came to keep me company, I walked around by myself until I ran into my mom who yelled at me in front of a really cute guy who was running an activity there and she told me I want honoring my parents and I should have kissed her and said goodbye before leaving. Waita ruin my fantasy--oh wait it was never real! Woo! I spent some time with my dad watching the concert and then we walked home and ate ice cream. We are leaving tomorrow and I have already been getting emails about school and stuff I have to do.
I feel so dumb putting this all on the Internet but I really need to talk to someone about it. Even if it's just taking to myself right now. I really thought this summer would be amazing and that we both would have so many adventures and new experiences. I feel like I've missed out and I can't get these moments back. With all of my closest friends away, I wasted so much time feeling lonely and not doing anything. I do think I have grown this summer. Even if I was just away for 2 weeks, I learned how to travel on my own and how to be more independent. I learned to be tougher and not take crap from people. I learned that sometimes people don't know when they are being annoying and I can't just let them but with me without saying something. I continue to learn how to stand my ground and stand up for myself. Even if I didn't get my adventure like I hoped I would, I think I'll be okay. I know that I will have many more exciting summers--and experiences in general--in the future. I have faith that even though it has taken me longer, I will someday find what I'm looking for.
I miss you to the moon and back!
Love,
Stephanie
P.s. I am SO ready to stop sharing a house with all of my family, and to not have to reside in a hallway anymore.
I wrote you such a long letter last time that I thought I would spare you from reading another for a few days. Sooooo Thursday was really rainy here, so we mostly just chilled at home. My family went bowling but I was being a moody teenager and decided to stay home because my dad was annoying me. I drove my mom to Walmart and didn't do as well as I could have. There was this dude pushing shopping carts in the parking lot and I was trying to drive past him but he was in the middle of the street. Instead of getting to one side he tried to push the carts faster, so I sort of followed him a little still trying to get past him. My mom started yelling at me to just stop moving and let him get past. He finally got to one side and my mom says out loud, "go on" so I did. Apparently she wasn't talking to me though, she was talking to the dude, because we both started moving causing my mom to freak out and yell at me for almost hitting the poor man. I felt so stupid. After texting my camp friends about how bored I was, we went to dairy queen at like 9:30 which was honesly like the most exciting moment of my day. Yesterday we were supposed to go horseback riding but it was still pretty rainy so we decided to go to the library instead. They were having a scary movie festival with lots of food. It was super cute, but these were not just scary movies. These were HORROR MOVIES!! Cuddle buddy, I'm sure you are aware of how I feel about scary movies in general. Oh man, I was so scared. The first one we came into was just ending and I felt pretty cool because I was totally not scared and just thought the special effects were dumb, but I also didn't see the whole movie. The second one was The Ring, which is only rated PG-13, and it's not really gory at all. But I was SOOOO scared. I googled the movie while I was watching it so I could find out what happened and I wouldn't be startled. Regardless, I did that thing where you cover your eyes with your hands leaving only tiny spaces to see through them during most of the movie. After it was over I went outside for a little to calm down, and when given the option to go home, I STAYED FOR THE SEQUAL!! Eric, I didn't cry or anything!! I watched the movie and calmly covered my eyes when a particularly scary image appeared. Today, Saturday, I woke up and got dressed and went to shul. It's a pretty tiny shul, but sometimes there are cool people that visit. Like many many times this summer, I went with high hopes and got there to find 5 people that weren't my family members there. They were all old and some live here. I went back to the house to change and we went to the blueberry festival parade which was so cute. I felt like SUCH a loser after I did some self reflection. You know when the parade people throw candy for little kids to gather? Not only had I been scavenging candy as well, but I had gathered it in my skirt. Like a 5 year old does. You know, when you hold the end of your skirt and make sort of a bowl for the candy. Uchhhh I was so embarrassed after. I stuffed it all in the pocket of my sweatshirt and pretended it wasn't mine. I came home again, tried to read our AP book, got through one page, and gave up. My fam wanted to go to this rock concert by the water so I decided to go too. While my grandparents drove there and everyone else were behind me, I walked there. The whole way. By myself. Thats like a good 20-30 minute walk. TALK ABOUT HAVING NO FRIENDS! When I got there I sat with my grandparents for like 10 minutes and got super bored and had to walk around. Somewhere in my heart I expected the rest of my time there to play out like this: I was walking around by myself and prince charming came up to me while I was standing there looking attractive and asked if I was here by myself. After telling him about myself and him telling me about himself, we both fall in love and frolick into the sunset together. This day dream of mine has come in many many different forms this summer. Every day I expect it to happen in a different way and I anticipate it every moment only to be let down every single day when it doesn't happen. So as you can imagine, no prince charming came to keep me company, I walked around by myself until I ran into my mom who yelled at me in front of a really cute guy who was running an activity there and she told me I want honoring my parents and I should have kissed her and said goodbye before leaving. Waita ruin my fantasy--oh wait it was never real! Woo! I spent some time with my dad watching the concert and then we walked home and ate ice cream. We are leaving tomorrow and I have already been getting emails about school and stuff I have to do.
I feel so dumb putting this all on the Internet but I really need to talk to someone about it. Even if it's just taking to myself right now. I really thought this summer would be amazing and that we both would have so many adventures and new experiences. I feel like I've missed out and I can't get these moments back. With all of my closest friends away, I wasted so much time feeling lonely and not doing anything. I do think I have grown this summer. Even if I was just away for 2 weeks, I learned how to travel on my own and how to be more independent. I learned to be tougher and not take crap from people. I learned that sometimes people don't know when they are being annoying and I can't just let them but with me without saying something. I continue to learn how to stand my ground and stand up for myself. Even if I didn't get my adventure like I hoped I would, I think I'll be okay. I know that I will have many more exciting summers--and experiences in general--in the future. I have faith that even though it has taken me longer, I will someday find what I'm looking for.
I miss you to the moon and back!
Love,
Stephanie
P.s. I am SO ready to stop sharing a house with all of my family, and to not have to reside in a hallway anymore.
Wednesday 8 August 2012
P.s. letter #20 cont.
Omgomgomgomggggg I just watched ray William Johnson on YouTube and oflfiughfdighfuh he just showed the SCARIEST ice cream advertisement I grave ever seen in my life. I am sooooooo creeped out by this guy in the ad that I might not sleep tonight. Creepier than the bitterroot footage I think. Ahh it was so scary that I had to cover my eyes in order to cut and paste this web address. Honestly watch this and tell me it's not the scariest shit you will ever see in your life. Abbhhhh I'm going to find a happy place now, love Stephanie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNKfYcRpCEI&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Letter #20
Dear Erica,
Yay! 20th letter! I feel like this deserves a little celebration. Today I went to Michigan Adventure and had a great time. I went on so many roller coasters, you would have LOVED it. We have to go to cedar point together sometime so we can ride the coasters together. The funniest moment was when it was me, Ross, and Rachel riding this huge rollarcoaster. It was Rachel's first time ever on this ride nd I guess she wasn't exactly prepared for the first drop because I'm serious her face was priceless! It was sooooooo funny, it was a combination of pure terror and utter fear. Ross and I were both laughing so hard we were crying. He described it as her having 5 chins, eyes super wide, mouth was in a wide open frown, and the slightest hint of having to throw up. Soooooo funny. The water park made me feel grossly gross to step foot in. I kept thinking of the thousands of nasty feet that were in the same spot mine were in, so I just went in the lazy river and didn't go on any water slides. I have some random stories to tell you now, some are slightly relevant and some are completely irrelevant so bear with me. First of all, you should know that I really have to pee right now, but there is only one bathroom in the house and someone is showering. I could go to the other house, but I wouldn't want to completely scare the poop out of someone if they think I'm like a burglar or something coming into their house at midnight. Second of all, while I was walking towards a ride I saw this lady FULL ON, NO SHAME AT ALL, picking her nose. GROSS. Third of all, RMTTY: boyscouts at a subway. Fourth of all, last night there was this huge nasty bug in my room and I was too scared to touch it so I just left it alone. When I was going to go to sleep, though, I wanted to do something on my iPad and as soon as my light was out and I turned on my iPad the bug started flying around my room. Of course this made me freak out inside but I just calmly put away my iPad thinking it was just attracted to the light and it would leave me alone. FALSE. It stared flying first around the opposite side of the room from my bed, but all of a sudden I feel this tiny thud on my foot and the buzzing stops. THE HUGE NASTY BUG WAS MOMENTARILY RESDING ON MY VERY OWN FOOT!!! (flashback to that time at camp when there was a huge bug in my hair. Scary times.) you can imagine my terror as I flung my foot around hoping it would fly away. Oh and it did fly. Right to my HEAD! It then landed on the pillow that was behind my pillow (I can only assume this is where it landed because I heard it buzzing but I had quickly dived...dove...diven? Whatever, I put the covers over my head in about 1 second and quietly prayed to the lord to make it go away. I'm not sure if or when it did go away, but it has made me very uneasy about walking around my room or getting into bed. I'm afraid I'll find it waiting for me and I'll freak out. I would have asked someone else to kill it right when I first saw it, but it was alread really late when I first saw it and I didn't want to wake anyone up. Fifth of all, I just went pee and omgggg the floor is NASTY in there. The tiny rug squishes with who knows what kind of liquids. Plus, as I may have mentioned, there is like BARELY a door between the bathroom and my aunts room. It's this thin wooden slidey thing that doesn't even close all the way and it's right in front of the toilet. Basically anyone in that room is listening to me pee. Lastly, when I was in the car on my way to and from the park today I was rereading all of our imessages all the way back from march when you deleted all of mine. I'm still slightly mad at you for that. But it was so nice, I really felt like you were here with me instead of half a world away. You're the only person that makes me need to crack up and cry at the same time and I miss you sooooo much. Here is a snipit of some of my favorite things we said. Beware, it's kinda long.
Where'd you go??
I was just talking to myself for like 5 minutes
Woa wait, hahaha seriously?
That happens ot me al the time when ur phone dies or u hang up on me, ha
I noticed we got disconnected but was too lazy to call back at the moment..
I called you back twice! GRRRRRRR technology
How much chem did you do?
Really? I didnt get the call...
Umm like a few multiple choice ones
Dnt forget that mantas told us not to do 3 of the muoltiple choices..
Can we seriously work together on chem during study hall tomorrow?
Ken bevakasha
Toads rabbits
I used ur line
Yaaay!
🐸🐰
Haha
Can that be our inside joke? Like instead of thank you we just write that?
Haha we are so funny.
Sureeee
I like it.
MAAAAANN
Ok I'm going to take a shower now (now I'm really starting to sound like you....) so ttyl
I say that all the time. Wth the certain voice..
Omg no, i was about to say that IM gonna shower!
Whoa there what's mannn and why "wth"
LINE STEALER
Haha hamjzsdf
Im loling
What's happening?!?
So funny
Typos
K
Hamster.
I meant WITH
Hahahahah
😜
Maann ur so silly
What the hell Erica? MAAAAANNNNN
Im so weird. I said that out loud. Te last thing i wrote. To mself.
WAIT
Hey. No hell allowed in my imessages
WooAa
Im waiting
I keept on waiting. Waiting. Waitkng, and runing Runing running..
Hello
Im sweating here. And hot. Its os hot in my house. love,
Stephanie
Yay! 20th letter! I feel like this deserves a little celebration. Today I went to Michigan Adventure and had a great time. I went on so many roller coasters, you would have LOVED it. We have to go to cedar point together sometime so we can ride the coasters together. The funniest moment was when it was me, Ross, and Rachel riding this huge rollarcoaster. It was Rachel's first time ever on this ride nd I guess she wasn't exactly prepared for the first drop because I'm serious her face was priceless! It was sooooooo funny, it was a combination of pure terror and utter fear. Ross and I were both laughing so hard we were crying. He described it as her having 5 chins, eyes super wide, mouth was in a wide open frown, and the slightest hint of having to throw up. Soooooo funny. The water park made me feel grossly gross to step foot in. I kept thinking of the thousands of nasty feet that were in the same spot mine were in, so I just went in the lazy river and didn't go on any water slides. I have some random stories to tell you now, some are slightly relevant and some are completely irrelevant so bear with me. First of all, you should know that I really have to pee right now, but there is only one bathroom in the house and someone is showering. I could go to the other house, but I wouldn't want to completely scare the poop out of someone if they think I'm like a burglar or something coming into their house at midnight. Second of all, while I was walking towards a ride I saw this lady FULL ON, NO SHAME AT ALL, picking her nose. GROSS. Third of all, RMTTY: boyscouts at a subway. Fourth of all, last night there was this huge nasty bug in my room and I was too scared to touch it so I just left it alone. When I was going to go to sleep, though, I wanted to do something on my iPad and as soon as my light was out and I turned on my iPad the bug started flying around my room. Of course this made me freak out inside but I just calmly put away my iPad thinking it was just attracted to the light and it would leave me alone. FALSE. It stared flying first around the opposite side of the room from my bed, but all of a sudden I feel this tiny thud on my foot and the buzzing stops. THE HUGE NASTY BUG WAS MOMENTARILY RESDING ON MY VERY OWN FOOT!!! (flashback to that time at camp when there was a huge bug in my hair. Scary times.) you can imagine my terror as I flung my foot around hoping it would fly away. Oh and it did fly. Right to my HEAD! It then landed on the pillow that was behind my pillow (I can only assume this is where it landed because I heard it buzzing but I had quickly dived...dove...diven? Whatever, I put the covers over my head in about 1 second and quietly prayed to the lord to make it go away. I'm not sure if or when it did go away, but it has made me very uneasy about walking around my room or getting into bed. I'm afraid I'll find it waiting for me and I'll freak out. I would have asked someone else to kill it right when I first saw it, but it was alread really late when I first saw it and I didn't want to wake anyone up. Fifth of all, I just went pee and omgggg the floor is NASTY in there. The tiny rug squishes with who knows what kind of liquids. Plus, as I may have mentioned, there is like BARELY a door between the bathroom and my aunts room. It's this thin wooden slidey thing that doesn't even close all the way and it's right in front of the toilet. Basically anyone in that room is listening to me pee. Lastly, when I was in the car on my way to and from the park today I was rereading all of our imessages all the way back from march when you deleted all of mine. I'm still slightly mad at you for that. But it was so nice, I really felt like you were here with me instead of half a world away. You're the only person that makes me need to crack up and cry at the same time and I miss you sooooo much. Here is a snipit of some of my favorite things we said. Beware, it's kinda long.
Where'd you go??
I was just talking to myself for like 5 minutes
Woa wait, hahaha seriously?
That happens ot me al the time when ur phone dies or u hang up on me, ha
I noticed we got disconnected but was too lazy to call back at the moment..
I called you back twice! GRRRRRRR technology
How much chem did you do?
Really? I didnt get the call...
Umm like a few multiple choice ones
Dnt forget that mantas told us not to do 3 of the muoltiple choices..
Can we seriously work together on chem during study hall tomorrow?
Ken bevakasha
Toads rabbits
I used ur line
Yaaay!
🐸🐰
Haha
Can that be our inside joke? Like instead of thank you we just write that?
Haha we are so funny.
Sureeee
I like it.
MAAAAANN
Ok I'm going to take a shower now (now I'm really starting to sound like you....) so ttyl
I say that all the time. Wth the certain voice..
Omg no, i was about to say that IM gonna shower!
Whoa there what's mannn and why "wth"
LINE STEALER
Haha hamjzsdf
Im loling
What's happening?!?
So funny
Typos
K
Hamster.
I meant WITH
Hahahahah
😜
Maann ur so silly
What the hell Erica? MAAAAANNNNN
Im so weird. I said that out loud. Te last thing i wrote. To mself.
WAIT
Hey. No hell allowed in my imessages
WooAa
Im waiting
I keept on waiting. Waiting. Waitkng, and runing Runing running..
Hello
Im sweating here. And hot. Its os hot in my house. love,
Stephanie
Tuesday 7 August 2012
Letter #19
Dear Erica,
Yesterday was a pretty good day. I didn't sleep in that much (like I said, my room is literally in a hallway...) so my whole fam went out to breakfast together. After Ross critisized me for wearing the same dress all the time (for the record, he has seen me wear that dress precisely 4 times ever! Election speeches, Jamie's party, and twice at camp.) I went shopping in town with my mom. I can't tell you how much I would love for you to be here with me. It would make the whole trip a bajillion times more fun. I went to the beach later and tried to look attractive while tanning. I texted my roomies (not that they replied to me or anything. Thanks a lot roomies.) that I went to the Michigan shore and I didn't even get a sunburn. I even went all the way in the water! And you know how much I dislike water! To top off the evening, we had some drama, as usual. It wouldn't be a family trip without a couple of good storm outs and blow ups. At breakfast my Aunt called my Grandma to tell her to order her some food because she wasn't at the restaurant yet. Well, my grandfather is HIGHLY anti-technology. He especially hates cell phones. Especially hates cell phones at meal times. To you and me, this small phone call between family members would have caused no alarm and would have been seen as being completely rational and normal. However, my Grandfather is neither rational, or normal. Thus the fist storm out occurred. Meanwhile his full plate of bacon arrived and Ross and I shared our own table. It seems that everyone in my family is able to sort of pair off during vacations. The adults pair off, then leave us 5 kids to pair off. It used to be me and Ross together, but now he seems to gravitate more towards Justin. This doesn't bother me, except for the fact that it leaves me by myself most of the time. Or worse, with my mom. That's why it was sort of nice to just have someone to hang out with finally. The second less eventfull drama took place without me really knowing what was going on, but my mom was mad again. Shocker, I know. The final event of the day was: It was my grandma's 80th birthday on Saturday so we were going to celebrate by going to a fancy restaurant for dinner. When we got there at our reserved time of 6:30, we sat down and ordered blah blah. Weeeeelllll, after over an hour of waiting and several impatient children already having left the table (this time I was not part of this crowd.) the adults started getting impatient as well. My mom had already politely asked the waiter what was prolonging the delivery of our food, then my grandparents called over the waiter to ask him what was taking so damn long, and FINALLY, my Grandfather got up and started causing quite a scene while screaming about how he doesn't eat dinner past 7 and how its not healthy to eat too close to bed time. We all got up and stormed out without paying for our drinks. We looked at a few other restaurants but the lines were long there too and we didn't want to wait any more. So we just went home. I got all dressed up though! It was so disappointing. RMTTY: holding out hope. I walked home sharing my iPod with Rachel and we were singing at the top of our lungs. It was such a good feeling not to care about all the people staring at us from their porches because they were just going to have to deal with it. We were determined to sing Taylor Swift as loud as we could and we were not going to care about any strange looks. When we came home we had some fun times involving a hammock and me and the younger kiddies. Today was pretty similar except no walk outs this time. Instead my Dad had a showdown with Rachel but that happened before I decided to get out of bed. When I did, I walked around town again with my mom then went to the beach for a little. I came home and got ready for dinner which tonight was at 4:45. I kid you not. We had to be sure that it wasn't too close to bedtime. After that we went to see movies. I saw the Dark Knight Rises with my grandma (who happened to eat an entire bag of popcorn without me eating ANY of it. Thanks grams) it was really good. Now its 11:11 and I just made a wish. I really wanted to take a shower tonight but I can't because Rachel and my aunt are already sleeping and their room is connected to the bathroom. I don't even know if I can go down there to brush my teeth, oh well they'll have to deal with it. They chose the room. Tomorrow we are going to Michigan Adventure.
I hope it's an adventure. I even put my hair in pigtail French braids. Dorthy style...
Love,
Stephanie
Yesterday was a pretty good day. I didn't sleep in that much (like I said, my room is literally in a hallway...) so my whole fam went out to breakfast together. After Ross critisized me for wearing the same dress all the time (for the record, he has seen me wear that dress precisely 4 times ever! Election speeches, Jamie's party, and twice at camp.) I went shopping in town with my mom. I can't tell you how much I would love for you to be here with me. It would make the whole trip a bajillion times more fun. I went to the beach later and tried to look attractive while tanning. I texted my roomies (not that they replied to me or anything. Thanks a lot roomies.) that I went to the Michigan shore and I didn't even get a sunburn. I even went all the way in the water! And you know how much I dislike water! To top off the evening, we had some drama, as usual. It wouldn't be a family trip without a couple of good storm outs and blow ups. At breakfast my Aunt called my Grandma to tell her to order her some food because she wasn't at the restaurant yet. Well, my grandfather is HIGHLY anti-technology. He especially hates cell phones. Especially hates cell phones at meal times. To you and me, this small phone call between family members would have caused no alarm and would have been seen as being completely rational and normal. However, my Grandfather is neither rational, or normal. Thus the fist storm out occurred. Meanwhile his full plate of bacon arrived and Ross and I shared our own table. It seems that everyone in my family is able to sort of pair off during vacations. The adults pair off, then leave us 5 kids to pair off. It used to be me and Ross together, but now he seems to gravitate more towards Justin. This doesn't bother me, except for the fact that it leaves me by myself most of the time. Or worse, with my mom. That's why it was sort of nice to just have someone to hang out with finally. The second less eventfull drama took place without me really knowing what was going on, but my mom was mad again. Shocker, I know. The final event of the day was: It was my grandma's 80th birthday on Saturday so we were going to celebrate by going to a fancy restaurant for dinner. When we got there at our reserved time of 6:30, we sat down and ordered blah blah. Weeeeelllll, after over an hour of waiting and several impatient children already having left the table (this time I was not part of this crowd.) the adults started getting impatient as well. My mom had already politely asked the waiter what was prolonging the delivery of our food, then my grandparents called over the waiter to ask him what was taking so damn long, and FINALLY, my Grandfather got up and started causing quite a scene while screaming about how he doesn't eat dinner past 7 and how its not healthy to eat too close to bed time. We all got up and stormed out without paying for our drinks. We looked at a few other restaurants but the lines were long there too and we didn't want to wait any more. So we just went home. I got all dressed up though! It was so disappointing. RMTTY: holding out hope. I walked home sharing my iPod with Rachel and we were singing at the top of our lungs. It was such a good feeling not to care about all the people staring at us from their porches because they were just going to have to deal with it. We were determined to sing Taylor Swift as loud as we could and we were not going to care about any strange looks. When we came home we had some fun times involving a hammock and me and the younger kiddies. Today was pretty similar except no walk outs this time. Instead my Dad had a showdown with Rachel but that happened before I decided to get out of bed. When I did, I walked around town again with my mom then went to the beach for a little. I came home and got ready for dinner which tonight was at 4:45. I kid you not. We had to be sure that it wasn't too close to bedtime. After that we went to see movies. I saw the Dark Knight Rises with my grandma (who happened to eat an entire bag of popcorn without me eating ANY of it. Thanks grams) it was really good. Now its 11:11 and I just made a wish. I really wanted to take a shower tonight but I can't because Rachel and my aunt are already sleeping and their room is connected to the bathroom. I don't even know if I can go down there to brush my teeth, oh well they'll have to deal with it. They chose the room. Tomorrow we are going to Michigan Adventure.
I hope it's an adventure. I even put my hair in pigtail French braids. Dorthy style...
Love,
Stephanie
Sunday 5 August 2012
Letter #18
Dear Erica,
Just so you know, I got your phone call when you called back. My mom answered it first, then I picked up the phone upstairs to tell her to hang up and it got all messed up. Sooooo yeah. Friday, as you know, I was supposed to hang out with a certain jem named girl, but after an hour of waiting, several texts and calls, she never showed up. Yup, I got stood up. I called our BFF d-bomb and SHE didn't stand me up. We went on a photography adventure and hung out at our favorite spot--on the bleachers. No interesting people there to say hi to. If ya know what I mean. Saturday I was planning on going to shul with d-bomb and our senior friend, but my family didn't wake me up. So at 12 I woke up and mostly just hung out until my mom got back from a different shul and she told me that our favorite bible teacher was having a celebratory event in honor of her wedding which was (omg!) today. Ahhhh she's married. I can't believe it. I have not gotten ready for shul that fast since 6th grade, nor have I RAN there since then. When I finally did get there I was sweaty and panting and felt like I was going to throw up because right before I got news of this I was eating a heavily frosted pink cookie. Add cookie to super heat and also throw in some intense perspiration and heaving, and voila! A perfectly awkward "MISS ****!!!" (I starred her name out so you creepers can't find her. That's right, I'm on to you.) She was really happy to see me there though, because she didn't know anyone except for her family. I also hung out with the fiancé. He's a cool dude. Immediately after embracing said teacher I scrambled to some water and tried not to barf all over the place. I know, how lovely. But I was really happy to see her. We talked about how she was so excited and nervous and anxious about her wedding and how it was causing a twitch. She says hi btw. We went to say hi to my mom and she they were taking so I said hi to a guy we know from Avika and he's a senior now. We were talking and hanging out and Miss **** tried to interrupt but he kept talking so I was like "JOE! Hold on a sec." then she said she was going to talk to some peeps but she would say goodbye before she left. True to her word, before she left she made sure to raise her eyebrows behind Joe in that way that means "ehh? Something going on here?" and I made sure to lower my eyebrows in response in the way that means "oh hellll no" I mostly just hung out the rest of the day. Today my fam embarked on our week journey to the Michigan Shore (hehe SEA what I did there?) RMTTY: f bombs and beds. The house here is really cute. Even though my bed is in the middle of the hallway, literally the middle of the hallway, at least I have my own bed. Everyone else is sharing since my grandparents so graciously offered (insisted) on each taking a queen bed which significantly decreases availability of sleeping spaces. You can imagine (actually you probably cant) how my mom reacted to this. RMTTY: more f-bombs. Anyway, Andrew and I were playing photographer and took some pretty bad pictures. Let's face it, I'm not a photographer. There's this hammock here that I embarrassingly flipped myself over on within the first 2 minutes of getting here. (don't worry, nobody was here yet but me and my aunt leaving me to dwell in a puddle of pure embarrassment and hope that nobody saw. I attended the annual watching the sunset over the lake event and it was remarkably the same as every year. RMTTY: blueberries and boy scouts
Wish me luck surviving my family.
Love,
Stephanie
Just so you know, I got your phone call when you called back. My mom answered it first, then I picked up the phone upstairs to tell her to hang up and it got all messed up. Sooooo yeah. Friday, as you know, I was supposed to hang out with a certain jem named girl, but after an hour of waiting, several texts and calls, she never showed up. Yup, I got stood up. I called our BFF d-bomb and SHE didn't stand me up. We went on a photography adventure and hung out at our favorite spot--on the bleachers. No interesting people there to say hi to. If ya know what I mean. Saturday I was planning on going to shul with d-bomb and our senior friend, but my family didn't wake me up. So at 12 I woke up and mostly just hung out until my mom got back from a different shul and she told me that our favorite bible teacher was having a celebratory event in honor of her wedding which was (omg!) today. Ahhhh she's married. I can't believe it. I have not gotten ready for shul that fast since 6th grade, nor have I RAN there since then. When I finally did get there I was sweaty and panting and felt like I was going to throw up because right before I got news of this I was eating a heavily frosted pink cookie. Add cookie to super heat and also throw in some intense perspiration and heaving, and voila! A perfectly awkward "MISS ****!!!" (I starred her name out so you creepers can't find her. That's right, I'm on to you.) She was really happy to see me there though, because she didn't know anyone except for her family. I also hung out with the fiancé. He's a cool dude. Immediately after embracing said teacher I scrambled to some water and tried not to barf all over the place. I know, how lovely. But I was really happy to see her. We talked about how she was so excited and nervous and anxious about her wedding and how it was causing a twitch. She says hi btw. We went to say hi to my mom and she they were taking so I said hi to a guy we know from Avika and he's a senior now. We were talking and hanging out and Miss **** tried to interrupt but he kept talking so I was like "JOE! Hold on a sec." then she said she was going to talk to some peeps but she would say goodbye before she left. True to her word, before she left she made sure to raise her eyebrows behind Joe in that way that means "ehh? Something going on here?" and I made sure to lower my eyebrows in response in the way that means "oh hellll no" I mostly just hung out the rest of the day. Today my fam embarked on our week journey to the Michigan Shore (hehe SEA what I did there?) RMTTY: f bombs and beds. The house here is really cute. Even though my bed is in the middle of the hallway, literally the middle of the hallway, at least I have my own bed. Everyone else is sharing since my grandparents so graciously offered (insisted) on each taking a queen bed which significantly decreases availability of sleeping spaces. You can imagine (actually you probably cant) how my mom reacted to this. RMTTY: more f-bombs. Anyway, Andrew and I were playing photographer and took some pretty bad pictures. Let's face it, I'm not a photographer. There's this hammock here that I embarrassingly flipped myself over on within the first 2 minutes of getting here. (don't worry, nobody was here yet but me and my aunt leaving me to dwell in a puddle of pure embarrassment and hope that nobody saw. I attended the annual watching the sunset over the lake event and it was remarkably the same as every year. RMTTY: blueberries and boy scouts
Wish me luck surviving my family.
Love,
Stephanie
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