Let me find a way to describe the pure joy that this week brings into my life every year. For those of you who grew up with the Santa thing in December, it's a little like peering around the corner to see all the presents under the tree that magically appeared over night. Or, walking out of the office this afternoon felt an awful like that last day of school, when the final bell rang and you just knew three months of endless fun with your favorite people was ahead.
That's beach week.
My Penn State friends and I have held this tradition since graduating, now ten years ago. We reserve the first week of August each year to spend together, doing what college friends do: retell inside jokes, create new ones, drink beer, eat bacon, act ridiculous, and catch up on each other's lives. There have been karoke competitions, drunk 5K runs, trailer-trash night (the last night of beach week, when whatever is left in the fridge must be consumed and only the white-trash canned beer remains), bonfires on the beach, and every night topped with a home-cooked, sit-down, family style dinner cooked by the group (well, to be honest, I usually am on clean-up duty instead). We respect the cocktail hour and you will never find a more competitive, Type-A group of mini-golfers anywhere. Really. Anywhere. That goes for beer pong too.
There is nothing more rejuvenating and refreshing than having an annual, reliable reality check by the one group of people in this world who know you the best. We may not talk to each other nearly as much as we used to, but when we come together for this one week each year, it is like coming home to family. Nobody knows how to bring me back down to earth better than these best friends of mine. Nobody else in this world can glance in my direction for half a second and instantly know exactly what I'm thinking and start laughing uncontrollably because of it.
So, throughout the years boyfriends and girlfriends of the group have come and gone. Now there are spouses and babies and puppies, too. Our family continues to grow, and that's a good thing.
Time to pack--Beach Week is here! Beach Week is here!
1 comment:
LONG LIVE BEACH WEEK! I hope you are having fun and relaxing this week Miss Strout. Have a couple cans of that white trash beer for me!
Post a Comment