The Things I Miss Most

Today I was thinking, which is no surprise- I think way more than I should. It's been almost exactly 5 months since I moved out of Alpine. Holy. Freaking. Crap.

I grew up in Alpine, in the same house, with the same neighbors, same elementary school, same middle school. Alpine is a small town. Burgess Park was always the meet up spot. Especially in 6th-7th grade, Burgess was the hang out place. I remember in 6th grade Maddie, Tara and I were getting dolled up to go watch the boys' baseball game at Burgess. Maddie was trying to curl her hair with a brush and it got caught in her bangs, so she kept the brush in her hair and rode her scooter to Burgess with a brush hitting her forehead with every little bump on the road.

The Peppermint Place was always an adventure. I'll never forget going down to the candy store to watch the workers pull taffy and make lollipops with big, metal machines. It always smelled so good in there. Walking in was like a dream. Suckers, chocolates, mints, huge chunks of salt water taffies. It was a kid's paradise and I never missed an opportunity to go watch the workers in the big finger print covered windows.

Summer in Alpine seemed boring. Small town, nothing to do. But looking back on all those summers, the most fun I had was when I was doing the normal routine. Meeting Autumn and Brianna at the trampoline in the Commons Area and playing the bouncing game, and one of us ALWAYS ended up wetting our pants from being flung into the air too fast. Walking to Snoasis and getting snow cones, then taking them to Burgess and swinging on the old, creeky swings. I remember when I got my brand new bike, just last summer. Every summer day I would ride down to my best friend Addie's house and we would make stupid dancing videos, play the piano, eat a lot, lay out and get tan (or freckled :) ). We got into a crazy addiction with The Tyra Banks Show and America's Next Top Model last summer. We watched every single Tyra Show (the ones that we were interested in, at least) and we watched every cycle of America's Next Top Model. One night we had a camera and took videos of us dancing around in front of my television. Little did I know, I'd never forget that stupid video of two crazy girls on a "boring" Saturday night. The sweetest moments and the things I miss most about Alpine were the simple things. Just little things that I never really noticed until I left. Riding to Addie's house, passing my "boyfriend" Gavin's house and feeling all giggly when I saw his siblings playing in his driveway. There are a few nights I'll never forget.

The night me and Addie went to a party. That party was full of drama and gossiping girls, which wasn't our thing. So we left. Could we drive? Nope. We WALKED. Walked to another party. There were always parties in Alpine, but none of them were all that special. Just boys taking girls phones, girls being flirty back to the boys, me and Addie playing pool and joking about our childhood memories. We were popular, but we weren't really like most of the populars. The second party we went to that night ended up being worse. So we left that one, too. We ended up at my house, watching Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, stuffing our shirts to look like pregnant women (I named my child L'Michael in case you were wondering), laughing til we fell down, and eating ice cream.

So simple. So perfect.

 

Just like when our mommies were prego with us :)

The girls night at Kaitlyn Conlee's house. EVERY SINGLE cheerleader was there, and then there was me. We watched movies, did nails, joked around, and then someone had an idea to go doorbell ditch Jerusha's house down the street. She was kinda scary and the girls thought it'd be fun to run away from her yelling parents. So a couple of girls went down the street, and a couple of girls (including Addie and me) stayed at Kaitlyn's house. 5 minutes later the girls all ran into the house like a group of angry, swarming wasps. It was a winter night, so the snow was at least 1 foot high. They were all breathing really hard, but laughing through their lack of breath. They explained that Jerusha's dad yelled some cuss words at them and they booked it down the road. They decided to do it AGAIN. More girls joined this time, but me and Addie again stayed behind, and the result was the same. Girls running into the house laughing and gasping for air. Gabi Isrealsen even lost her boot in the midst of the snow. Except that time, Jerusha's dad not only yelled but chased the girls. Then every single girl decided they wanted to go doorbell ditch, but me and Addie weren't feelin' it so we stayed behind. It was almost more fun with only Addie and me, we were so close that being just the two of us was most comfortable. Before the group of girls returned from Jerusha's, we heard a knock on the door. It was a man. With a gun. Angry man with a gun, actually. We locked every door and ran up to Kaitlyn's room. The girls snuck in through a window and the man remained at the door. Long story short, Addie and I ended up going to my house, watching American Idol reruns, taking funny videos, and eating ice cream.

The day that Jake Irving, Addie and I all hung out. Jake was always that kid you could say anything to. You could talk to him about anything and he was always there when you needed him. I think I secretly loved him all of freshman year. He's adorable. We walked to Snoasis and bought snow cones, and then went to Addie's. We watched The Office for an hour or two and then decided to melt some chocolate, dip Oreo's in it, and freeze them. One of our more unique ideas, you could say. Then we were eventually entertained by making words and funny messages to each other with the magnetic letters on Addie's freezer.

Overall, I think the best memories were with Addison Louise Lamb. Even just walking around Burgess taking random pictures was an adventure with that girl.

So despite my difficult times there, I do miss Alpine. And I'll always have a weakness for Alpine. I'll ALWAYS love Alpine.

Addie. Addie Lou. Addison. My soul sister. I miss her more than I can even say. But that's the joy of missing something right? Seeing her is even sweeter than it was on those summer days at Burgess.

Absence really does make the heart grow fonder, and the simple things in life really are the sweetest.