10 Things I Didn't Know When This Picture was Taken
2. I didn't know that this walk on the first of many treks among the golden cornfields lining the backdrop of an Indiana sunset. I didn't know the sunsets in Upland would be the most unbelievable splatter-painted glimpses of glory I had ever seen, and that my future college self would run to the window in hopes of seeing those explosive-color skies.
3. I didn't know that we would be, in essence, each other's only three friends for the entirety of our freshman year. I didn't know we would spend every Friday night driving thirty miles for chips and salsa or that we would go see The Greatest Showman every weekend for the whole month of February, half because we loved it that much and half because it provided an agenda to disguise the fact that we were truly each other's only friends.
4. I didn't know that we would brush our teeth together almost every night, not because we were afraid to go alone but because it was more fun to go together. We would shower side by side and (sometimes in the same stall) because everything was just more fun when it was the three of us. That became true of intramural soccer, Airband, our friend groups, and the lacrosse team, all of which we would arrive side by side by side, the blondes, Cali and the Maggies, inseparable, dynamic.
5. I didn't know that we would all share the same identity issues - looking for fulfillment in things like boys and success and a big reputation and popularity. I didn't know we would secretly envy each other because of it, only to finally spill the truth in fuzzy Christmas pajamas, the backs of our nighttime T-shirts soaked by shower hair, and this truth would set us free.
6. Not only would it set us free, but it would become a catalyst for growing together. I didn't know that those two blonde girls would eventually call me out for my sin struggles, push me toward righteousness in ways I didn't know I needed, and encourage the progress we all were making together. I didn't know the ways we would pray over each other and weep together, holding each other through hard phone calls and bad breakups and times that our hearts felt so empty.
7. I didn't know that we would ever split up. When we signed the papers for rooming the next year, I thought it was a contract for life and we would never have to leave each other's sides. But I also didn't know that we used each other as a crutch. We had become unhealthily co-dependent on each other in a way that valued our friendship over our reliance on God, and we would eventually get upset when a unit of the trio would fail to fill the God-sized hole in our lives.
8. But then, I didn't know that the split up would prove to send our friendship to new heights. I didn't know the way that our move across campus, to different floors and different rooms with different roommates and different friend groups, would send us running back to each other to cry tears of anger on each other's futons and celebrate the victories of looking at life through different windows for the first time in our college experience.
9. I didn't know that our friendship would not only sustain the move, but it would absolutely flourish as we learned to pave our own paths - working for Admissions or traveling to Europe or studying abroad in Ireland - things we never would have done as freshmen because we wanted to do it all together. I didn't know that we would grow to love each other even more as we spent less time together, and most importantly
10. I didn't know that these two would be some of the deepest, richest, most life-giving friends I have ever had. I didn't know the ways they would make me belly laugh, read my mind, cheer me on, call me out, and help me see Jesus like never before. I didn't know then that they would be inevitable lifelong friends, the girls that would stand beside me at my future wedding, the sisters in Christ that I hope to keep in touch with forever. When this picture was taken, I had no idea it would be them.
3. I didn't know that we would be, in essence, each other's only three friends for the entirety of our freshman year. I didn't know we would spend every Friday night driving thirty miles for chips and salsa or that we would go see The Greatest Showman every weekend for the whole month of February, half because we loved it that much and half because it provided an agenda to disguise the fact that we were truly each other's only friends.
4. I didn't know that we would brush our teeth together almost every night, not because we were afraid to go alone but because it was more fun to go together. We would shower side by side and (sometimes in the same stall) because everything was just more fun when it was the three of us. That became true of intramural soccer, Airband, our friend groups, and the lacrosse team, all of which we would arrive side by side by side, the blondes, Cali and the Maggies, inseparable, dynamic.
5. I didn't know that we would all share the same identity issues - looking for fulfillment in things like boys and success and a big reputation and popularity. I didn't know we would secretly envy each other because of it, only to finally spill the truth in fuzzy Christmas pajamas, the backs of our nighttime T-shirts soaked by shower hair, and this truth would set us free.
6. Not only would it set us free, but it would become a catalyst for growing together. I didn't know that those two blonde girls would eventually call me out for my sin struggles, push me toward righteousness in ways I didn't know I needed, and encourage the progress we all were making together. I didn't know the ways we would pray over each other and weep together, holding each other through hard phone calls and bad breakups and times that our hearts felt so empty.
7. I didn't know that we would ever split up. When we signed the papers for rooming the next year, I thought it was a contract for life and we would never have to leave each other's sides. But I also didn't know that we used each other as a crutch. We had become unhealthily co-dependent on each other in a way that valued our friendship over our reliance on God, and we would eventually get upset when a unit of the trio would fail to fill the God-sized hole in our lives.
8. But then, I didn't know that the split up would prove to send our friendship to new heights. I didn't know the way that our move across campus, to different floors and different rooms with different roommates and different friend groups, would send us running back to each other to cry tears of anger on each other's futons and celebrate the victories of looking at life through different windows for the first time in our college experience.
9. I didn't know that our friendship would not only sustain the move, but it would absolutely flourish as we learned to pave our own paths - working for Admissions or traveling to Europe or studying abroad in Ireland - things we never would have done as freshmen because we wanted to do it all together. I didn't know that we would grow to love each other even more as we spent less time together, and most importantly
10. I didn't know that these two would be some of the deepest, richest, most life-giving friends I have ever had. I didn't know the ways they would make me belly laugh, read my mind, cheer me on, call me out, and help me see Jesus like never before. I didn't know then that they would be inevitable lifelong friends, the girls that would stand beside me at my future wedding, the sisters in Christ that I hope to keep in touch with forever. When this picture was taken, I had no idea it would be them.