Two weekends ago, my roommate Mallory, and our newly developed college friend Catherine went on a spontaneous trip to Panama City Beach. It all started with me asking "How much money do y'all have, like, 'going out to eat' money?" After suggesting everywhere to eat in our town, we decided that we could drive thirty minutes away from campus to eat something different, and somehow it escalated to a two and a half hour drive to get Pineapple Willy's, at 6:30 PM.
I drove, while Mallory manned the aux cord, and Catherine kept us entertained with her bubbly personality in the back. Just the drive alone was something I needed. A time where we were running away from the stressfulness of our first college semester, together. I laughed almost the entire way, and so did Catherine and Mallory.
We ended up eating dinner first, and walked out onto the beach for a good two minutes, and walking back to my car so we could get some ice cream. Because it was now 10:00 PM, we had to stop at a sketchy gas station with a rude cashier to buy individual pints of Ben & Jerry's. It took us many U-turns and GPS relocations to get to a public pier, but we eventually got back to the beach, where Mallory hunted for crabs and I got soaking wet from trying to get seashells.
With our night being very weird and on-the-spot, the action of going to the beach and going to different places isn't why I enjoyed our small escape from reality, it was being able to let go with amazing girls who I trust. They keep a smile on my face and make sure I have a good time, and (even though I "mother" them most of the time) I make sure they do too. I was reminded that night how important it is to stop worrying about things you need to do, or boys who break hearts, and start paying attention to the people who love and are there for you. So, go out with your girlfriends. You definitely don't have to be as spontaneous as we were, but be there for one another, and make sure you're with the people who make all of the stress go away, thats what they're there for.