It’s pretty rare finding someone you naturally click with. Like a person who just gets you, who has a similar story, and whose personality is homogeneous. I didn’t have any expectations for the Race as far as friends went, who I would be close with and who not, if I would have a person or just a collective group. It’s not that I didn’t want to have expectations, to be straight I just didn’t think about it because I wasn’t worried. I had full faith Jesus would take care of me in that way. But at training camp in July, it became evident I did have a person and who she was, it was Caroline. We’ve been attached at the hip kind of from the start. Ask any of my friends, I’m not a big cryer, as in I don’t do it often, but I cried hysterically to Caroline at training camp after knowing her only six days. She was the one who forewarned me it was the devil deceiving me, trying to make me regret being there and being the supplier of all my doubts. If it wasn’t for her, I may not have made it to last four days of training camp, to South Africa, or to Ecuador. So there’s one of the billion reasons I am grateful for Caroline (Line). Line is an unmistakeable answer to prayer. Like I said, it became clear I had her as my go to girl at training camp, but little did I know that I would get to know her like the back of my left hand (left because she’s a lefty). I could tell you endless fun facts about her. We’re both Maryland girls if that says anything, which is strange because everyone else on the squad is spread across the country and sometimes different states can feel like different planets but Line and I know all the same spots and have been in the same place before at the same time without even knowing it. She’s the window seat and I’m the aisle. She likes the edges of the brownies and I like the middle. She’s the left ear bud and I’m the right. She’s Mary Kate and I’m Ashley. She’s top bunk and I’m bottom; except when we share a twin bed, which yes we have been doing the past four weeks for God only knows why. Our friendship hasn’t dwindled once since July but only thrived. We are on the same team (go Halal whoooo!) which means we are constantly together. I can’t go a day without seeing her but I’m not complaining. You can ask the rest of our team and they will most likely tell you we are so close that it’s annoying sometimes. She’s heard every story I have from home probably three times, knows who all my friends in Maryland are, my bucket list, my favorite things, seriously like everything about me, and I can do the same with her. We jinx each other a lot because we think the same thoughts, say the same things, and ok this is strange but true, we’ve had the same dreams before. I could probably tell you a hundred and forty something stories that have happened over the course of the past six months together on the race. Like when we biked into town to go surfing one Saturday month two in South Africa and both went pee post surfing and I dropped my phone in a toilet of our pee and had to reach in to get it. Then we stuck my phone in a bag of rice, kept the rice and ate it for lunch together one Sunday a month later. Also for those of you who don’t know, my phone never turned back on so I’ve gone around five months sharing Caroline’s phone with her. Or like when we snuck into a hostel house in the wee hours of the mornings to bake our students M&M cookies in Jeffery’s Bay or became the stars of the show at an Ecuadorian hot spring and all eyes were on us. But seriously she’s one of those people that if you know her, you love her. I look up to Line so much. She will always embrace adventure and change, her laugh is contagious, she is generous, patient, and compassionate, the best translator (she’s fluent in Spanish by the way), one of the wisest people I’ve come to know, is self sacrificing, a big festival girl and glitteraholic, the only one who can make the leg hair work, has the greenest thumb which is why she’s going to be the most successful florist, is granola, and the life of the party. Whenever I’m down questioning whether I made the right move to be on the race or if I’m growing enough or experiencing His presence enough, I am consistently comforted by the fact that the Race has given me you Line, a sister for eternity. Thank you for being my person, for checking my head for lice, for walking to Pick N Pay with me, for showing me grace and love when I often need it, for sharing everything in your backpack with me, for checking in on me, for getting me, for teaching me how to play solitaire, for praying with me before bed, for leading Halal with joy and being the world’s best tl, for hiking many mountains with me, for laughing with me when everything becomes funnier past ten o’ clock, for spontaneously substitute teaching with me, and for being there for me any second of everyday. I love you big time Rainbow Warrior, and am beyond grateful to be doing this thing with you.
p.s. I think this blog calls for some friend points, too!
