If you know me, you know at least one very unpredictable/tragic/hilarious story of my friendship with Amanda Tindall. This one is written by her – enjoy!!
Hi, from a slightly less poetic and slightly more vulgar perspective!! So Alexis asked me several months ago to write my side of her story, which is classic Alexis, right? She is living THE adventure of all adventures, but she wants ME to be heard. I think that is a good way to start this sucker. She would never give this perspective in her online reflections, but I think it is a perspective that needs to be expressed.
Alexis: What even is she?
Great question, readers. I have no idea. The end.
I should say that I am kidding, but I’m actually not, fully kidding, anyway. I’ll start with what I can confidently describe. She is first and foremost, a servant, although I know that she will fight that enneagram test result to the grave. I never fully accepted it, but Alexis has been serving me for TEN YEARS (which is a stupid long time to commit to one temperamental, introverted buffoon). I guess it all started when Brendan Jones stabbed me in the eye with a mascara brush in our 7th grade English class, and Alexis cleaned all the crud (that neither of us ever actually learned how to use) out of my eye. She has loved me so well, ever since that day. And chances are, if you are reading, it is because she has also loved you so well. She loves to lift up the qualities that I excel in (such as laser tag and screamo ukulele), but I want to use this platform to lift up the qualities that she excels in. She sees hurting people, and she knows exactly how to care for them. She also has a ridiculous talent for screamo ukulele. She is a dern good leader. She can eat more than any person I have ever met, but still chooses to eat KALE FOR FUN?! She worships with genuine vulnerability which is infectious. She is gentle. She is weird. She is on constant pursuit of a life well lived. She is untraditional. She always wheeze laughs, even when shit hits the fan in the realest ways possible (feel free to reach out if you want to hear some of the biggest fails of our time together). She balances my vocal/often polarizing personality out perfectly. But that is the core of Alexis Sills. She meets everyone where they are at.
So what is life like across the world from my brother (an honest reference to each other that was started because of our copious amount of leg hair)? It is a strange adjustment every day. I mean, first and foremost: who THE HECK is going to sing the other half of our Linkin Park duet?! Don’t get me wrong, I love the evolving seasons of life. It is so exciting to see people that you love live progressively. But the weird part of changing seasons is that the majority of relationships formed in one season of life tend to not transfer to the next. Colorado Michael and Scranton Dwight? Tupac on Shug’s label and Biggie on Diddy’s label? Spencer Reid at BAU and Jason Gideon in retirement? It is just the human nature to move on, but Alexis (who has access to wifi about 1/10th of the amount of time that I do) shows no sign of leaving me in our Oak Grove/Miss State season. We could all learn a lot from her relational resilience. So my first major profit of being on the home-front side of relationship with a Racer (quick reference to when my mom thought Alexis was going on an 11 month run): an exercise (ha ha) on how to show multi-seasonal love to the people I treasure.
But that is certainly not the only profit that I have gained from her World Race. I mean anyone who has had the GIFT of witnessing the evolution of our friendship probably knows that there has always been an undertone of competition with us (mostly from me lolz). That is naturally what happens when two people who both watch copious amounts of the ultimate competition (Survivor) are attached at the hip for 8 years straight. So seeing my number one competitor at peak happiness, walking exactly how God has created her to walk: GIRL BYE!! Okay, obviously, I celebrate my best friend’s joy, and I would fight anyone who stands in the way of her living her best life. But that should be obvious, so I want to address what has happened over the past 18 months from that sliver of competitiveness that will always reside (which will one day make me a millionaire; thank you CBS). I have been learning that the core of competition is inspiration. You aren’t jealous of Jim and Pam because you want their fictional relationship to not exist; you are jealous because there is so much about them that you want to see in your life/relationship. So, hear me out here: there is, most certainly, a healthy form of jealousy. Be honest: who isn’t jealous of freaking Alexis Sills (that jerk)?! Allow me to spell out the healthy form of jealousy: I envy her, therefore I challenge myself to be more like her. I referenced earlier that I don’t fully understand what this beast woman even is. True. She has evolved spiritually, emotionally, vocally, artistically, socially, and probably physically too, from all the kale, in the past 18 months. I really struggled to start this blog because of the crazy high standard of vulnerability, charisma, exhortation, humor, and wisdom in all the previous blogs Alexis posted. How do I follow that, man?! But holy cow. The blogs are so indicative of the life that my best friend has grown into; how can I not pursue an evolving life as well? Healthy jealousy.
One last profit I am gaining from from Alexis’s world race. This one seems obvious. Encouragement to serve. I am constantly learning from The World Race all the way in Denver, Colorado. Thank you to everyone who has supported Alexis, through prayer, money, or words of encouragement. Neat thought: your support directly affects Alexis and indirectly affects so many others that find inspiration in her words and actions, myself included. I think we could all learn from Alexis’s servant’s heart.
Serve one another humbly, in love.
Bye.
