Something I have found so much joy in recently has been a certain memory from my child hood. It involved a brick wall buried in the side of a hill, my best friend, and a late night walk to the gas station for snacks, and the best part is that I figured out how to do it all again.
My best friend growing up was Dalton, and we would do everything together. He was more of the wild child, so he pushed me to my limits, and I did my best to push him too. We would go out on these adventures every other weekend it seemed, when I would go sleep over at his house. We were in middle school, so our sleepovers consisted of watching movies, playing video games, and walking around late at night tackling some of the world’s biggest questions like, “Why did Mrs. Marnell always call on us for the questions we didn’t know the answers to?” or “Why doesn’t the cafeteria serve nachos every day?” and “Why can’t we get a girlfriend?” Truly theological, we pondered the same concepts most every time we took off on our gas station expedition.
Walking a few miles there and back, we never failed to buy the same items at the gas station. With the few dollars our parents reluctantly turned over into our hands, we each bought a regular Monster energy drink and a bag of Trolli Eggs Sour candy. Half way back from the gas station is where we stopped.
Standing in a small field, curving up a small hill, there stood a brick wall built into the hill. With only a dim casting of the street lamp light to illuminate our wall, we climbed up one at a time as we sat our snacks on top, took a running jump and plopped on top with our legs dangling. This is where we really pondered those questions. Though, as the middle schoolers we were, we gravitated more toward the topic of girls. By the end of it all, we knew exactly what type of girl we wanted to marry. From hair color to eye color, to favorite hobbies and career paths, we thought of it all. Sipping on our energy drinks and munching on our candies.
And as the night crept by, we laid on our backs on the hill and gazed up at the stars as if everything we figured out had somehow connected all of the dots in the sky. This was a time of peace and quiet. Even if we didn’t have problems at the time, we liked to think we did so that we would have something to solve over our energy drinks and candy accompanied by what should’ve eventually been an image in the sky. A breeze of cold night air would eventually sweep over to tell us it was time to finish our trek up to Dalton’s house to get some sleep.
These nights, I sit on a stone bench, surrounded by street lights that hide the dots in the sky. But when I sip my Monster energy drink and eat Trolli Eggs sour candy, I feel the grass on my back, the rough brick wall rubbing against my dangling legs and the problems I have today don’t feel real anymore. I can see those same stars all those years ago connected in the sky, and a cold breeze sweeps over me as my eye lids grow heavier and heavier. It is a time of peace and quiet, and I know that if I’m ever in a place of panic or stress, I can grab those snacks, and unpack all the problems in my head and swap them out for an image in the sky.
It’s relieving really, knowing that all the dots will connect.
