Day 5: Thankful for friends.
Independence Day was filled with thankfulness.
A good friend asked me a couple of weeks ago what my plans were for the 4th. At that time I had nothing going on. Living in Minneapolis where a majority of my friends have graduated and moved on or are on summer break, I have had a limited pool of people to pull from when it comes to spending my free time. That means my opportunity to do new things is also limited.
I told my friend I was free on the 4th, so she invited me to the Minnesota Twins game because she got free tickets! I said, "Heck yeah!"
Apart from the drastically sharp incline of the seating for our section and the way it looked like it dropped off into nowhere, I had a good time. After finding our seats, I had to catch my breath because I was afraid of the height. But once the seats started to fill, I felt calm knowing that if I fell then I was most likely going to be stopped by falling on someone else. :)
The Twins played the New York Yankees, the game lasted longer than we anticipated, and we lost 6-5.
At some point during the five and a half hours spent at Target Field, I turned to my friend and mentioned how there was no better way to celebrate our country's Independence Day.
After the game I offered to buy a drink for my friend at the new Caribou Coffee beside the stadium. It was the least I could do since she invited me and shared her food with me.
I joined her and her family after the game as they dropped off some people and picked one up. My friend then asked if I wanted to come over to her house to watch a movie and have supper. In most cases I probably would have said no, not because of my friend, but only because an introvert like me needs to recharge after having been around a large group of people for a majority of my day.
I said yes to her.
I haven't been able to travel home as often for the past two years. This is because my friends from North Dakota have graduated and left the area so my options for traveling the seven hour trek have dwindled. It also sucks that I don't have a car, so I'm constantly having to rely on others to help me out (which really makes me feel like a burden).
All of this is to say that I have spent some holidays alone during the past two years. I didn't want to spend the night of July 4th by myself.
It has become the norm to celebrate Independence Day by spending time with friends and family, just like every other holiday in the States. And for the past three or four years, I have celebrated the day with my brother Jake and his family.
So instead of saying, "No, thank you," to my friend's invitation, I said yes.
Even if I would have said no to my friend, I probably would have wondered downtown Minneapolis to join the crowds as they watched fireworks. But I enjoyed watching a movie and then turning around on the couch in my friend's living room to watch the fireworks of the family in the park.
It was a simple 4th of July, but I'm thankful that I did not have to spend the holiday alone.
And it was touching to receive a text message from my brother Jake at 11pm saying, "We missed you this year." Thanks, bro. That meant a lot.
A good friend asked me a couple of weeks ago what my plans were for the 4th. At that time I had nothing going on. Living in Minneapolis where a majority of my friends have graduated and moved on or are on summer break, I have had a limited pool of people to pull from when it comes to spending my free time. That means my opportunity to do new things is also limited.
I told my friend I was free on the 4th, so she invited me to the Minnesota Twins game because she got free tickets! I said, "Heck yeah!"
Apart from the drastically sharp incline of the seating for our section and the way it looked like it dropped off into nowhere, I had a good time. After finding our seats, I had to catch my breath because I was afraid of the height. But once the seats started to fill, I felt calm knowing that if I fell then I was most likely going to be stopped by falling on someone else. :)
The Twins played the New York Yankees, the game lasted longer than we anticipated, and we lost 6-5.
At some point during the five and a half hours spent at Target Field, I turned to my friend and mentioned how there was no better way to celebrate our country's Independence Day.
After the game I offered to buy a drink for my friend at the new Caribou Coffee beside the stadium. It was the least I could do since she invited me and shared her food with me.
I joined her and her family after the game as they dropped off some people and picked one up. My friend then asked if I wanted to come over to her house to watch a movie and have supper. In most cases I probably would have said no, not because of my friend, but only because an introvert like me needs to recharge after having been around a large group of people for a majority of my day.
I said yes to her.
I haven't been able to travel home as often for the past two years. This is because my friends from North Dakota have graduated and left the area so my options for traveling the seven hour trek have dwindled. It also sucks that I don't have a car, so I'm constantly having to rely on others to help me out (which really makes me feel like a burden).
All of this is to say that I have spent some holidays alone during the past two years. I didn't want to spend the night of July 4th by myself.
It has become the norm to celebrate Independence Day by spending time with friends and family, just like every other holiday in the States. And for the past three or four years, I have celebrated the day with my brother Jake and his family.
So instead of saying, "No, thank you," to my friend's invitation, I said yes.
Even if I would have said no to my friend, I probably would have wondered downtown Minneapolis to join the crowds as they watched fireworks. But I enjoyed watching a movie and then turning around on the couch in my friend's living room to watch the fireworks of the family in the park.
It was a simple 4th of July, but I'm thankful that I did not have to spend the holiday alone.
And it was touching to receive a text message from my brother Jake at 11pm saying, "We missed you this year." Thanks, bro. That meant a lot.
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