What do you get when you bring three girls together who haven't seen each other in seven months?- a whole lot of hugging and squealing.
Yesterday, I had the joy of finally getting to hang out with Hulie and Ripley together after a long separation period of seven months! I'd seen Hulie all Spring semester and many times over the Summer, and I'd seen Ripley a few times since she came back from Europe BUT the three of us had not been together in a full seven months. So after the initial greeting, we hopped on our bikes and headed out on the Swamp Rabbit Trail...you know in honor of the Tour De' France and all ; )
Just to clarify, Ripley's bike makes her look like a pro. Her dad decked it out for her when she was abroad, and now I think even Lance might envy her for it a little bit. Little did we know that all of the hip additions might not be so easy to manipulate and fix if we ever needed to. We're basic bike people and we're all studying the liberal arts. The ins and outs of fixins are a touch out of our league. First thing to remember.
After a couple miles of pedaling, we started to notice something coming up next to us- the good ole' South Carolina midday heat. Despite my personal feelings of opposition against wearing just sports bras in public, I caved and got rid of the t-shirt. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with doing that. It's just not seemingly the "classiest" thing to do, but yesterday I opted for being cool and trashy as opposed to hot and classy. Thus, we biked on with the shirt off- second thing to remember.
We talked a lot about degrees-about the Fall-and about the equally exciting and dreadful thing that follows Fall___Spring___Graduation. Ironically, or maybe quite fittingly since we are all liberal arts majors, none of us have one particular path that we are set on. It was actually really refreshing to bounce ideas off of each other and all the while know and laugh at our own concern with the plans we're making. Because we're soon to be at a crossroads, it's sometimes easy to slip into the desire of wanting blueprints from God showing us exactly what career to choose and exactly why. I've struggled with that off and on for years, trying to figure out what God wants me to do and wanting him to reveal it to me on my own/ the world's timing- definitely before I graduate. As if the power of the Author of time is limited to the world's standards of now. If we had all the answers from the onset, how would we ever really know what it means to depend and trust in God? How would we learn to see his faithfulness and purposefulness in our lives if he handed us over the answers all at once? Don't we essentially find our purpose/ fall into our careers when we learn to be content with trusting and prayerfully seeking Him in every avenue of our life? I think that's a yes. Saying all of that, I'm not discounting the fact that God doesn't always give clear answers before we need to act. Sometimes we simply have to make a decision and pray that He will bless or correct it if it's outside of his will. Hem us in if we're out of line. God has been graciously teaching me so much of what it means to find freedom in trusting him lately, and I will say...and I'm hesitant to do this because I'm afraid I may be coming up with it on my own or that it may change, but I really think that God is leading me toward a certain career path. One that I am really excited about, and one that I so far have received nothing but affirmation about from people who know and love me well. So anyways, way, way, way off topic, but I won't apologize for talking about what Christ is up to- and I'm not going to trim it into the rest of the story- I warned you about the clarity and grammar in these posts!...I'm taking my break from the tediousness and preciseness that comes with all English major papers so bear with me : )...
We stopped off at the "Ally Cat Cafe" on the trail and enjoyed some water and talked about our recent adventures- Ripleys in Belgium and now Columbia and Hulie's in Italy...mine in the culture rich Clemson, SC haha. After some catching up, we hopped back on our bikes because Ripley needed to get home to Columbia. This is where the funny stuff starts...
So we're making our way down the path and mind you that we are definitely not the only ones with the idea of biking...everything is going smoothly... until alas nature decides to play a joke on us. Hulie is riding on the right side of the path and Ripley is directly in front of me on the left...and directly in front of Ripley is...one buzzing bumblebee.
In an absolute perfect rendition of the "terrified girl vs. little bug" stereotype, Ripley lets out an incredibly loud, "Ahhh, a bug..ahh get away..a bee!" or something of that sort. And of course, naturally, she brakes her bike into a complete halt. For Hulie, this is an incredibly funny scene and she gets quite a few laughs in. For me, however I did not have time to laugh- I only had time to look like a fool...and remember I am already looking trashy.
In a completely impulsive move, I immediately break my bike as hard as I can...but my bike does not cooperate and there is no chance of going forward-where ripley is- or to the right- where hulie is...so in a graceful series of swerves and attempts to have some composure, I make my way off the edge of the path which is raised...I manage to stay up for about three seconds in the limbo position of wheels half-on pavement- half-on brush and gravel...and then in quite possibly the most ungraceful move ever, I finally fall into the pit of sticks, rocks, and everything else unpleasant. Initially, we are all so shocked at the ridiculousness of what just happened- Ripley's hilarious reaction to the bee and my absolutely clumsy fight against falling that we just sit there. But then we are laughing and looking over my new battle wounds...it did hurt, but definitely not as bad as the scratches and bruises implied. Of course Ripley apologized over and over before we got on our bikes, making sure I was okay because she is Ripley, but I assured her that in reality she did me a favor- I've got some gruesome battle wounds to show off to people at work- thanks to her, everyone is going to think I'm the bees-knees...pun absolutely intended.
So after the initial hilarious accident, we continue our trek home- with me looking absolutely ridiculous in a sports bra with scratches and bruises marking me up...things go smoothly until...nature runs its course again- Ripley stops in the middle of the road, lets out some "funny" words and drags her bike onto the path. The chain on her rigged out bike has popped off. For simple bikes, fixing that problem isn't any big thing, but we were all a bit confused when we saw that there were three layers of spokes to choose from when reattaching the chain. Ripley immediately called her dad at work and put him on speaker phone. She tries to reattach the chain...not exactly succeeding or failing at that, but most certainly succeeding in absolutely blackening her hands. After a couple minutes, some good Samaritan drives by and asks if we need help. Her dad through the speaker phone answers saying..."Katie, get someone to help you." haha...and so alas the chain dilemma was corrected...and the dilemma of getting Ripley's hands back to normal began. Naturally...Hulie and I came bringing sheaves of leaves..."Here, have a leaf." Hulie made some joke about "Here have some poison ivy"...thank God that we know a thing or two about that. So after stripping a certain bush of many of its leaves and after Ripley's hands became somewhat normal again...we started on home.
We said our goodbyes and planned our fun for this coming weekend and each went our separate ways. I got about two minutes down the road before Hulie called me..."Didn't you have a gray helmet?...okay yeah that's what I thought...it's sitting in a mud puddle haha...I'll bring it with me to Radius." I had naturally driven off with it on top of my car.
What a day full of unpredicted fun!! Thank God for good friends and Summer days. And, watch out for combining bicycles with bumblebees. The bruises will sting even if the bee doesn't! ; )
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