Aftershocks

     So...my life now. When I left at the end of June, I never imagined what my summer was going to be like. I was excited to leave home, but at the same time, so nervous. I had never been to this place before. The only reason I was going now was because the camp I had previously volunteered at turned me down because of my age. Whatever. 

So as I was searching for somewhere else to volunteer at, I came across the Teen Mania Ministries website. This wasn't the first time I had heard of Teen Mania. I had been to Acquire the Fire about 6 years prior, and one of my family friends was an intern at Honor Academy. 

So, I kind of knew what I was doing. But kind of not. Anyway, I had no idea what my summer was going to be like. Turns out, it was amazing. I made so many awesome friends, and I just had an all-around good time. So, naturally, I was dreading come home. I knew life back home would be difficult...but I wasn't prepared. 

When I returned home, the only place I wanted to be was Teen Mania. I didn't want to be home. I really didn't. I went to a good friend's house the day after I got back, and we all had a movie night. It wasn't so bad. They wanted to know about my summer, and I told them. 

I overloaded them with pictures (for my benefit more than theirs) and a few stories...but I knew they wouldn't really get it...only because they weren't there. They didn't know the people like I did. They only know them through pictures...and that doesn't even do a justice. 

The first few days, I would cry at the weirdest times. And then, right when I thought that I was moving on with my life, random memories would come to mind, and I would write them down. Actually, I think I wrote more in my journal at home than I ever did at Teen Mania. 

Funny how that works. One day as I was writing in my journal, my mom told me to start a blog. And I did...obviously. I keep in contact with the other volunteers through facebook and texting. Some I talk to more than others, but we are all still in some form of contact. 

I talk to Mariam the most. She knows what I am going through. Withdrawal, I mean. Sometimes I think my family gets tired of me telling different stories, so I text Mariam. She helps me get past it, she helps remind me that I had a wonderful summer, and she tells me that we will all be back next summer. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. 

Mariam, Caleb, and Trey are coming to my house for Thanksgiving. I'm pretty excited. Actually, I'm really excited. I wish others were coming too, but unfortunately they won't be. For the past few weeks, I felt like I was in a fog. I wasn't really paying attention to the life surrounding me...

I was just letting it pass by, thinking that that would help August come sooner. But it doesn't. If anything, it is coming slower. But, I think my "fog" has finally lifted. I am finishing some things up, tying up some loose ends, and getting ready for Honor Academy. 

I have even decided that I should start buying some things here and there that I will need as an intern. Right now I am looking for a job. I need to start saving money for HA tuition. It's funny. Everything in my life revolves around HA. Not in a bad way...it isn't an idol...but I am planning ahead. I am saving up all of my spare change right now. 

I separated my quarters from my dimes, nickels, and pennies. Before I leave for HA, I am taking all of my dimes, nickels, and pennies to the bank, and try to trade them out for quarters. Quarters are a commodity at HA. Going to Teen Mania has definitely changed me. Inside and out. 

I am so excited for my future and what lays ahead...and I am so thankful that I was too old to go to the other summer camp... because then I would never have gone to Teen Mania, nor would I have ever met my wonderful friends, nor would I be planning to go to HA. God is so good. All the time.

Nickel

The Last Days...Part 2: Emotional Goodbyes

August 17th

   So, I had just come back from from shower. Karen and Mariam were packing. So much for an evening in the lounge. But I understood that they needed to pack. I went ahead into the lounge. Karen and Mariam came a bit later just to hang out...but they both went to bed fairly early that night. We were all sad. We didn't exactly show it...but it was there.

I tried not to think about it. Honestly, I never wanted this night to end. And in a way, it didn't. So, I am in the lounge. After Mariam and Karen go to bed, it was a pretty dead night. Caleb and Trey went to bed early because tomorrow was a big day for them. Tomorrow they would become interns!

Priscilla stayed up later than usual, so I helped her put pictures from her camera onto her computer, and then I uploaded them onto her facebook. After that was accomplished, I walked to the dorm so she could get her toothbrush. Mariam was still up and on her laptop, so I told her I was going to go count the bathroom showers.

There were several, and I had always wanted to do it. So when I walked Priscilla to the bathroom, I also counted the showers. 85 in all. That's a lot of showers. So I take Priscilla back to the dorm, and go into the lounge. No one was there. Great. Now I had to go back to the dorm and try to fall asleep. And I really didn't want to do that.

But then Ulises and Philip came in. Philip was leaving at 5am to go to the airport, and Christa was going to go with him. It was 2am. But he said he couldn't sleep. So they were just going to relax in here for a bit. Ulises brings in all of his luggage.

He goes through some of it, organizing it. So then he goes to close it. And it won't close. He is struggling. So he asks me to go over there and help him. It is like in those cartoon, where they have to sit on their suitcase just to close it. Yeah. It was a cartoon in real life.

So after we successfully close his suitcase, we sit back and rest. And then I ask him if he had his clothes for tomorrow. He looked at me, smiled and laughed, and unzipped his suitcase. So he pulls out some red pants, and then one black and one white shirt.

He asks me which one, and I choose the black one. So once he has his outfit ready, he closes his suitcase yet again. This times, it seems to close much easier. So he and Philip are talking and stuff, and the lounge door opens, and Andrew comes in. It is 2:45pm.

Philip had just turned some music on, so he and Ulises start dancing around the room, dancing to the music. I recorded them...and I am pretty sure they didn't know it. After dancing, they thought it would be funny for Ulises to throw skittles at Philip, while Philip was running around the room, and he would try to catch the skittles in his mouth.

Skittles were everywhere. This lasted for several moments. Then they started throwing skittles at me, which I did not appreciate. Afterwards, they pulled out the vacuum and cleaned them up. And then they decide to go play some video games.

I go and sit with them, and I get onto facebook. Suddenly, Ulises stops what he is doing, and looks very closely at the floor. He pointed something out. A scorpion. But all Ulises did was went, got a knife, cut the stinger off, threw the stinger away, and then resumed his game.

He said they have a lot of scorpions in Mexico. So I watched the injured scorpion run away. Next thing I know, it is 4:30am. And Mariam comes into the room. She sees me and asked me if I had gotten any sleep, to which I replied no. Obviously.

Mariam comes and sits next to me, and we talk for a bit while the boys play their video games. Philip walks over a bit later, and I get a picture of him with Mariam. It was their first picture together. Philip turns his music on again, and turns the volume up.

Christa has come into the lounge, because she is going with Philip. Only, it is 4:50am, and the van hasn't arrived. Mariam gets in contact with the driver...and it turns out he has overslept. So while we are waiting for the driver to show up, Philip dances to more songs.

I wish I had gotten pictures or video. We have the lounge door propped open so we can watch for the bus. It is pouring down rain outside. I was living in a dream world. The van would never comes. The sun would never rise. We would never leave this room.

I have this memory forever branded in my brain...and I thought it would never end. Philip dancing. Andrew walking. Christa sitting. Mariam recording Philip and us. Ulises straightening his hair. This was one of the most special of nights...one of my favorite nights...

The song Call Me Maybe was playing, and Philip was dancing around the room. Mariam was recording. And I was standing watch. And then the van pulled in. I told Philip, and he turned off the music and got his things. He packed them into the van, and he came back in to say goodbye. It didn't feel real. But it was.

I watched as he and Christa got into the van. I watched as the van pulled out and left the parking lot. I knew they were gone...but for some reason, I didn't really feel it. I was numb. Mariam asked me if I missed Philip, and I said yes...but I kind of lied. Not that I wasn't missing him.

I think I was. But everything felt fake. Like my whole world was about to come crashing down on me. He left. I expected to cry...but surprisingly, no tears. It was a very strange emotion. So now it is about 5:45am. Almost time for breakfast. Caleb and Trey had woken up to see Philip off, and now we were all just standing around awkwardly.

So we decided to go to breakfast. It was raining, lightning, and thundering. Very normal for Texas. But Mariam was scared to walk in the storm. I told her there was nothing to worry about. So, on our way to breakfast, we all decide to stop by the restroom. Mariam stays outside and records the storm, and I walk into the restroom.

There was a puddle of water on the floor, and I slipped and nearly did the splits. It was very embarrassing. Thankfully no one had seen. On my way out, I carefully walk through the puddle. I got this. Ok. So I am walking down the stairs and get to the ramp, when I completely lose my balance. There was another puddle of water that I hadn't seen.

One leg slips out in front of me, the other legs rolls behind me, and I land on it with my body. I roll to my right and just lay there for a few second, and then sit up. Thankfully no broken bones, sprains, pulled muscles. Just a sore body. And then Mariam sees me.

She is running over with her camera, still recording. Apparently, she had been recording the storm when I fell. She rushes over and says, "I should have been there to catch you!" Like she had known I was going to slip and hurt myself. As I watch the video afterwards, she was recording the lightening, and you can hear me squeal as I slip.

Then she recorded me as I was laying on the ramp. I could't stop laughing. She thought something was wrong with me. But I usually laugh when I am in a lot of physical pain. Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying, right?

The others have just returned from the restroom, and I think they thought I was crazy because I couldn't stop laughing. As we are walking, the rain becomes harder. We walk under the pavilion, a nice relief. When we come from under the pavilion, it seems as if the rain has gotten even harder.

Andrew and Trey stay under the pavilion while Mariam, Caleb, and I trudge on. Ulises had stayed in the lounge, straightening his hair. We arrive in the caf, and they are serving cereal and muffins. That's ok with me. Andrew and Trey meet us in the caf, and we all sit in a booth.

Caleb and Trey share stories of life back home, of their friendship, of their future. The rest of us just listen, and laugh, because Caleb and Trey are hilarious. We heard some pretty great stories. We sat there for an hour, just listening. We decide to head back to the lounge.

It is 7am, and the sun is up. Well, it is still rainy and cloudy. We are talking all the way back. Caleb shows us some awesome videos on the way. We arrive at the lounge, and Ulises is sleeping on the couch. We don't bother being quiet though. But, because this was a new day, everyone splits up and does their own thing.

I was sitting on the couch talking with Ulises, who had woken up, and Caleb comes into the lounge. My back was facing him, so I couldn't see what he was doing. He takes a sharpie, reaches his hand around my head, and starts drawing on my face. With a sharpie!

And he gets frustrated because he can't see, so he comes around an faces me, and writes "Cool!" on my forehead. I thought about stopping him, but he would just fight me, and probably make it worse. So I let him. I should have taken it picture, but I didn't.

I went to the restroom and washed it off. It is about 9 o'clock, and Trey and Caleb come into the lounge and say their goodbyes. Caleb came and slapped my foot and said "see ya". I couldn't look him in the face, because I knew I would cry. Trey came and shook my shoulder and said "see you later". It was very emotional.

Once they left the room, I was sobbing. Mariam and Ulises were both surprised. Mariam told me she didn't think this goodbye would be hard for me...but it was. In more ways than one. You see, Caleb and Trey were staying on as interns.

I knew in my heart that I was going to be an intern one day...I suppose I was a bit jealous because they were going, and I wasn't. I will, just not now. Plus, they were good friends. I was going to miss them. Because I live somewhat local, I had invited Trey and Caleb over for Thanksgiving.

Mariam too. So hopefully, they can all come and visit... I stopped crying, and was able to regain my "composure". At 9:19am, I get a text from my mom. "We are on our way". This was a very heartbreaking text. Not because I don't like my mom. I love my mom.

But it meant that I was leaving this place. This place where my heart was. It still is. So I had only a couple of hours before my summer would officially end. When I would be forced back into the "real world". And I wasn't looking forward to it. Not one bit.

But, I go to my dorm and start packing anyway. Karen is awake, packing her things. Everyone knows what is coming, but no one wants to talk about it. I get all of my things into an orderly fashion. Beside my suitcase, I found a shirt. A napkin was on the shirt.

It read "To: Mikayla, From: Your Heavenly Father". That made me want to cry even more. This was a shirt that I had been wanting from day one. And someone knew about it. I had only told one person, but they had already left...so I have no idea who could have possibly given this shirt to me. But it was a blessing.

So I change into my outfit for the day, brush my teeth, do my hair. And then I go to the lounge where everyone is. Mariam has all of her things spread out across the floor, and she was organizing her suitcase. We all sit around and talk. About what happened this summer, about our future.

We watch some of the videos we had taken. We laugh together. We just...are. Being together. What we like to do best. It is about 11am, and I get the phone call. My family is here. They hadn't arrived in the Village...they were still at the gates, so I still had a few minutes to pretend like nothing was going to happen.

It was just going to be a regular day. I was going to go to work with Karen and Mariam, and we were going to hang out in the lounge later. But nothing can stay the same. Everything changes. And so did time. My few minutes were up.

I watched as the van drove into the Village, and parked. I watched my family get out and look around at what I called home. I walk up to them, hug them, talk with them. I bring them into the lounge to meet my other family. They all exchange pleasantries. Everything was ok, I told myself.

Just 10 months. 10 months and I would be back. Andrew and Ulises were no where to be seen. I went to their dorm and knocked on the door. Nothing. So I go back to the lounge and wait. And as I was talking with my families, I see Ulises through the window.

He sees me and smiles back. But when he opens up the door, I saw the look of surprise on his face when he saw my family. He obviously wasn't expecting them. He awkwardly goes to sit down on the couch. I introduce him to my family.

Karen had arranged lunch with the caf, so at 11:30am, she needed to go over there and pick it up. My parents offered to drive everyone to the caf. On our way to the van, I spot Andrew coming up the rode. Yes. I had really wanted my family to meet him. He comes up, and talks. My family really wanted to hear his accent, haha.

Other than Andrew, all of the other volunteers pile up into the van, and my dad drives us to the caf. I get out with them, and walk with them to the caf. Even though we are all together, just us volunteers, everything feels so different. Like my world has just turned upside down.

We are only in the caf for a few minutes, and we get back into the van and drive back to the Village. We only just unloaded everybody, when we see the Greyhound bus coming to pick them up. Everyone rushes to get their luggage, and my mom quickly takes pictures of all of us.

I am crying now. Crying beyond all reason. Getting to know people on a deep level, sharing so much time and emotions with them...it bonded us. And watching them get on that bus and drive away was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, emotionally.

I stopped crying long enough to go to my dorm and get my things. Aimee called me, but I had to leave the building to be able to hear. She wanted to see my family again, so we were planning on meeting near the auditorium. After all of my things were loaded, we got into the van and drove to the auditorium. And then I saw Rachel L.

I knew she would be mad at me if I left without saying goodbye, so I rushed past Aimee, telling her just a moment, and I ran to Rachel and hugged her. She told me to stay, but I told her I didn't have the money, or I would in a heartbeat. I hugged her again, and then I left her.

I went over to Aimee. My family was with her now. My mom stopped and took a picture of me and Aimee, and then my family stopped in the restroom. I went with my brother and Aimee to check out her office. I had been to her office before, but she had it decorated differently, and I wanted to see.

My family is waiting out by the van, so I say yet another goodbye, and I leave. I get into the van, heavyhearted. Karen texted me, and we were conversing for awhile. We left campus, and that was that. My parents wanted to take me out to eat, so we drove to the local town and went to a restaurant.

I believe that when you talk about people and stories, it helps to heal, so I decided to share a few stories with my family. I would do so good. I could tell a whole story without crying. But when I started thinking about the story, I would cry. It was embarrassing, crying in a restaurant...but there really was no way to get around it.

I heal by tears sometimes, and this was one of those times. Of course, having been up for over 24 hours also didn't help. I was actually starting to get my days mixed up. It felt like a few hours ago when we went cliff jumping, but in reality, it was a whole day ago.

So being tired, physically and emotionally, was exhausting. The drive home was ok. If I closed my eyes for too long, I would begin to fall asleep. Once I was at home, it was different. When I am doing things, it isn't too bad...

But when I am alone, or my thoughts catch up with me, it gets depressing. So shortly after I get home, my mom goes grocery shopping. I definitely don't want to be alone for too long, so I go with her. Me, my mom and dad, and my sister, all go shopping. It was nice.

I was able to tell stories without getting teary eyed. And after we arrived home, my other sister with her two babies came over. I had really missed them. But, the day is just starting to get...long. I had to wash dishes, and about 10:30pm, I was in bed.

I share a room with my sister, and she told me that I fell asleep before my head even hit the pillow. I had been awake for just over 36 hours. It had been a really long day...

Nickel

Just hangin' out...

Desiree and her guitar...

Priscilla!

This is the bag Karen surprised me with!!

Andrew and Ulises playing foosball...

Ulises trying to stuff his suitcase

Swag.

                                               

The three amigos. Philip, Ulises, and Andrew

Me and Philip!

Me and Ulises!

Playing video games!

Philip and Mariam!

Ulises straightening his mohawk...

Caleb and Mariam

                                             

Me and Ulises!

My dear friend, Aimee

Karen!

LC!

Priscilla, Andrew, Karen, Mariam, Ulises. My family.

Mariam!

Andrew!

Me and Andrew along with my sister, Hannah

The Last Days...Part 1: Cliff Jumping

August 16th

     Thursday. Karen had gone by Mrs. Olin's office yesterday to see if we could take the whole day off. They graciously let us, and we were so thankful.We all woke up about the same time, and some walked to lunch while others drove with Desiree to the caf.

I could feel a heaviness in our group. A sadness. This was our last full day. No one wanted to think about tomorrow if we didn't have to. No one wanted to talk about what had to happen. So we didn't. We all make it to the caf at the same time, and stand in line together.

They are serving egg rolls and fried rice. We all sit together, which was difficult because the caf was packed. It was hard finding a table to fit all of us. We weren't the only ones who sat in groups. I saw all sorts of people sitting in groups that day. This was the last day before new interns came in. So we are all sitting together.

Christa, Trey, Philip, Caleb, Mariam, Desiree, Me, Karen, Ulises, Andrew, and Priscilla. It was really nice. We are all planning on going cliff jumping today, so there was excitement at the table. Desiree, Karen, Ulises and I leave to go to Best Buy, and Mariam would come later with Caleb, Trey, Philip and Priscilla.

Karen wanted to stop at Best Buy to get a buoyancy case for her iPhone. She already had a waterproof case, so that way we could take it into the water with us. On our way to Best Buy, we stop at the Dollar Store, Karen's favorite store. I forgot my water bottle, so I bought one there.

We were in the Halloween section and saw a very large spider, and we said how funny it would be if we pranked Mariam with it. She didn't seem to have an issue with the other large spider the other night. So we bought it. And we head on to Best Buy.

She finds what she is looking for, but we need to wait because she is texting her boyfriend, Rafa, and we can't leave until he responds. So we go to the restroom, find an outlet, and she charges her phone while she waits. I go to Ulises and Desiree and tell them we will be in the bathroom charging Karen's phone, and they say ok.

They were playing video games anyway. While we are in the bathroom, of course we would take bathroom pictures, haha. A lot of them. After about 15 minutes, Rafa texts back, so we remove our things from the restroom, and go back to the phone section.

I go back to the bathroom because I forgot to fill my water bottle up, and I run into Desiree and Ulises. They were looking for us. Apparently they didn't hear me when I said we would be in the restroom. So they follow me, and we all join up with Karen, who has her floating case in hand, ready to check out. We had been in Best Buy for about an hour.

It was about 2:45pm when we left. Before we could head to the cliffs though, we stopped by Taco Bell and a gas station. And then we were on our way. During our car ride, everyone was pretty silent, each lost in their own thoughts. Sometimes Karen would ask me "Are you crying?"

I would shake my head and say no. Ulises would look at me and say, "It's ok, Me-kyla. You can cry. Go ahead...you can cry. Look, I'm crying," and he would pretend to wipe away tears from his eyes. I didn't cry...just laughed. My sister called me.

I hadn't told anyone what I was about to do, because I knew they would probably tell me not to do it. But I told my sister. And the first thing out of her mouth was, "You know you can die doing that, right?" Well...I was going to do it...and I was hoping I wouldn't die.

I didn't tell my mom what I was doing either. I just posted a video on Facebook, and let her find out for herself. I didn't want anyone to know, in case I bailed out. We arrive at the cliffs. I look over the cliff into the water 60 feet below. I was supposed to jump off of this? And not die? Oh dear...

We were waiting for the others, so we decided to go swimming. We didn't jump off of the cliffs, we just climbed down into the water. It was nice water. The perfect temperature. As we were in the water, Ulises jumped off of the 60 foot cliff and joined us.

We heard a car pull up about 15 minutes after we had gotten into the water. And then I saw the others. Philip didn't hesitate. The moment he stepped out of the car, he ran off the 60 foot cliff and jumped into the water. So, we just kind of stay in the water for a bit while Trey, Caleb, and Mariam gather their courage and jump.

I didn't think I would be able to jump off of these cliffs, and then Karen tells me of some smaller cliffs. Okay...I can do smaller and work myself up to the high ones. We all hike through some tough terrain. I was leading Priscilla, so it was a tad bit difficult...but not impossible.

Trey helped me and Priscilla jump off of a small cliff, about 4 feet high (no, it wasn't a cliff over water...it was a small cliff in the trail). I accidently landed on Trey's foot...sorry Trey. So we arrive at the small cliffs. They weren't terribly small, and they weren't terribly big.

They were...comfortable. I found a small cliff, about 6 feet high. Yeah, it was really small, but it was a fun cliff to jump off. Karen and the others jumped too from the 6 foot cliff. And then Karen thinks it would be fun to take some underwater pictures, but neither of us looked very good in any of them.

Philip asked if he could take some of himself underwater, and Karen let him. Desiree asked if Karen could take some pictures of her, and Karen did. We all just played around in the water for a little bit, and then we went to another cliff. This one was about 15 feet high.

I jumped together with Karen and Caleb, but right before we were supposed to jump, Caleb bailed out. That cliff wasn't too bad. And then Karen wanted to take me to a higher cliff, and I let her. It was about 30 feet or so. I couldn't pull the courage together to make this jump, so I just stared into the water.

Karen was patient with me, and I kept telling her I couldn't do it. I just stared into the water. For 20 minutes. Well, one thing I learned. If you don't jump right away, you will probably never jump. Karen started counting down. 5...4...3...2...WAIT! I can't do it!! So we didn't jump.

I knew that in 2 seconds, it would be over. I just couldn't think about it. And then I asked Karen if she could record me jumping into the water, and then I would record her. Instead of us jumping together. This gave me a bit more courage. She told me she was recording.

And I took a leap of faith, and I jumped. And it was exhilarating. Those two seconds of being in the air...I can't describe it. It was...amazing. And then it was over. I hit the water. I felt like I was underwater for years, and couldn't come up soon enough.

But when I look back at the video, I was only underwater for maybe 3 seconds. It felt SO much longer in reality...but I did it. And I was so proud of myself. I swam over to Mariam and Priscilla, and started to dry out because it was like 6pm, and I wasn't sure how long we were planning on staying.

Karen stayed in the water, and kept telling me I was a baby because I wasn't in the water. Mariam walked over to Caleb who was trying to jump off a cliff about 5 feet higher than the one I just jumped off of...but he was stuck. Not physically. He came to the same roadblock that I had been at.

One tip for cliff jumping...don't look into the water. So I waited for Mariam and Caleb to jump, because I wanted to watch. They were over there talking for about 15 minutes and then...they jumped. Mariam told me later how proud she was of both Caleb and herself for jumping.

So Karen is still at me, telling me to jump into the water with her. I do eventually, off of the 6 foot cliff. We swam for about 15 minutes more, and then we decided to leave. We were all going out to eat, and we were getting hungry.

I guided Priscilla back over the rough terrain, and to make it even more difficult, she was on the phone with a good friend, so she wasn't listening to me. We had a few trips and falls, but made it all in one piece to Caleb's car. And then we drove to Posado's.

Karen and I went to the restroom to check our appearance. My hair was a mess. But I didn't really care. So was everyone else's. Thankfully we got to eat outside on the patio. While we were waiting to get our seats held under the reservation name of "John Wall", Philip's idea, Philip and Trey dance around. Like monkeys. Literally.

It was just a bit embarrassing. It went on for about 10 minutes. No one else seemed bothered though. And they even had an audience. Finally, they call us to our table. I sit in between Karen and Philip, with Mariam on the other side of Karen.

Mariam wanted to trade seats with me because she was going to share a meal with Philip, so I switched seats and ended up between Karen and Ulises. It was a good last supper. We all had so many jokes, and were all so comfortable with each other. We were all close. Like a family.

After dinner, we all had gotten up to leave and were about to go into the parking lot when we remembered about our free ice cream. So we all walk back into the foyer to get our ice cream. I kind of got in line first. And to make matter worse, the ice cream machine was really slow.

So I was standing there for like 5 minutes, with a line of volunteers behind me...starting to get a bit impatient. So I let them get their ice cream. We all gather up in the cars and go back "home". Mariam really wants to spend time in the lounge.

But I really wanted to go take a shower. Karen and I hurry up and go into the dorm, and Karen sneaks the spider underneath Mariam's sleeping bag, so when she goes to bed that night, she would find it. I then go to my bed to get my things for my shower...and I see a gift on my bed.

It is for Nickel, so I know immediately that it was from Mariam. And I already know what it is. Or I was guessing, at least. But I was right. I opened it up...and there laid a Pink Book. Mariam and I had been talking about a Pink Book for several days.

It is like a bucket list, but inside of a book. And when you check something off in your Pink Book, you have room to write about the experience behind it. It is really cool, and I will always be so thankful to Mariam for it. And then I remembered about the spider.

But it was too late. She just flipped open her sleeping bag to get into bed when she found it. And she screamed, really loud. It was actually hilarious. And then she told us we were mean, and that her heart was hurting now from the scare. We still laughed. So I leave and I go take my shower.

End of Part 1.

Nickel

                                                       

Me and Ulises!

The "beach area"

Karen, Desiree, and Me!

  

Oh Philip...

The Three Musketeers!

Desiree, Mariam, Karen, and I!