well, alright, I didn't really want to study anyway
Anyway, people will be more likely to read 10 1 paragraph long posts than 1 10 paragraph long post, so here's a story. I'll stop when I get bored or incoherent, or whenever I feel like I've written enough.
February, 1999
I'm halfway done with my senior year of high school: Aptos High School, Aptos, CA, anyway, I meet a girl named Brianna in my 5th period creative writing class. I find her attractive, funny, interesting... generally have a crush on her, you get the idea..... fast forward to that May. School is ending, I'm graduating, and she's got one more year of school left. She writes her number in my yearbook. I take that as a good omen. Few weeks later.... we talk on the phone a couple times. I ask her out to coffee. I got lost on the way to her house, was over an hour late. Then I got pulled over on the way to coffee for speeding. Not the best start to the date, but she didn't really care, she was having fun just being with me. Fast forward a few more months, to September. I didn't know what I was going to do with myt life, college didn't seem interesting. I was thinking of something with computers, but I had no real focus. I was workngi part time doing graphic design. I signed up at the lcoal community college so that I could keep living in my parents house for free, basically. This continues through the winter and into the spring. At this point, Brianna's having "family issues" (that's a WHOLE other story). Let's suffice it to say that she's got 3 months of high school left, and her mom quit her job, got eveicted and moved out of state with a drug dealer who beat her. My girlfriend moved in with an aunt and uncle. However, it was fairly obvious that she was there cause they felt they had a duty to take care of her, and they'd much rather have her move out.
Brianna lived there through the summer. I continued to work part time, and take classes at the JC. At the end of summer, Brianna had had jsut about enough of living with people who really didn't want her around. Her sister was excited about having Brianna come live with her. Brianna decides to move.
The issue: I live in California. Brianna's sister lives in Florida.
We (me and Brianna) fly to Florida. Brianna is staying, I have a return ticket for a few days later. Florida Sucks. I hate it. We do the long distance phone thing for a few months... three months or so. I then decide that my schooling at a JC is going nowhere. I drop my classes the first week of school, pack up my 14 year old truck w/ 131k miles on it, and strike out across the dessert to Las Vegas - and eventually: Florida.
It takes me only 4 days to drive myself to Florida. I get a speeding ticket on the way. I drove From boulder Colorado to Kentucky in one 16 hour day. I was a driving machine. 8:00AM to after 2:00AM the next morning.... I-70 east for 1500 miles.... no A/C, no Power Steering, and a broken CD player....
September: arrive in Florida. I still hate it. Florida is truly the armpit of America. It's hot, and flat, and buggy, and wet, and everything is stained yellow. I'm there for a few weeks. Actualyl considered living there... finding a job and an apartment. But I knew I really didn't want that Brianna didn't really want it either. We decided to leave. She was working at a department store. We waited for her final paycheck.
Two weeks later: We take of with a car with 147k miles on it, and about $1200, and all her belongings under a tarp in the back of the truck. I-95 north...
We decide to take the trip back as the once in a lifetime opportunity it is, and make the best of it. First stop: Washington DC. Washingtonwas fun, saw the museams, the capitol, the memorials.
Second Stop: New York, New York. Brianna is quite the theater fan. I took her to a braodway show
I've never been able totop that one.....
Rest of the stops: random palces across the country.
Now, driving through nevada after my 10,000 mile round trip: Where the hell is Brianna going to live? She has an aunt in Sacramento. It's time we called her. Brianna's aunt agrees, with about 6 hours notice, to let brianna live on her couch. Sacramento is about 150 miles from where I live, but it's better than 3000. Plus, Florida sucked ass anyway. I drop off brianna in Sacramento, and head home the next day. back to my old job, my parents house, and the crappy JC classes.
Now, this is really only the first step (well, not really the first, but one of the steps) on the road to where I am today. But, like I said, it's a long story.
What did I learn? How did this change me? I don't know if it can be explained, but when you drive 10,000 miles for the person you love, you realize a lot of things that you never knew before. Everything from little things, like the fact that the graffiti in Kansas says "Jesus saves", to things like the power of the human heart (yes, I know it's a corny phrase), and your own willpower.
TO BE CONTINUED...
You people better read and respond to that now, after all that time I spent writing it.
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