As the clock struck 11 p.m., I gathered my wits, coffee, and slippers, woke up my roommate and we both trudged towards the car in the chilly nighttime air. I started the engine, glanced at the clock and sighed audibly. My warm bed, fuzzy blankets, and sound machine were enticing, but I was on a mission. Our third roommate had flown into the airport late at night after a quick weekend trip, and was without a ride home. When she called to tell us her predicament, I could hear the pure exhaustion wearing on her in her voice. It tugged at my heart, and I quickly agreed to drive an hour to come pick her up, even though I had an 8 a.m. class in the morning.
The drive was a hot-mess express. My roommate and I were hyped on late-night cups of coffee, munching on pretzels and singing karaoke-style to the radio to stay awake. Neither of us complained about the hour of our road trip, but instead enjoyed the ride. After one hour of driving, too many Taylor Swift songs and three construction zones, we pulled up to the airport and located our long lost friend. She immediately slugged her packs into the backseat and crawled into the car, and told Siri to get us back home on the fastest route possible.
On the way back, we tried to manage coherent small talk, but resorted to humming along to the radio. As you can image, we crashed into our beds the moment we stepped into our room. And then when morning rolled around all too soon, we immediately felt the weight of the lack of sleep on our energy. After class I sat in our room trying to be productive, yet the sleep deprivation had a hold over me. Soon enough, all of us were abandoning our to-do lists in favor of cackling over the slightest humor. The laughter quickly turned to tears as our looniness played with our emotions. Amidst this crazy experience, I experienced what people nostalgically describe as "having been through the highs and lows together."
In reality, driving to the airport in the dead of night is just a small thing. It's just an expression of what it means to be a friend, or a sister in a sorority. These are the ladies that share a bond running deeper than just sharing similar t-shirts and lending nail polishes. And favors are just things that we do for one another, not to be repaid. In the end, some of these acts of kindness just end up being another adventure for the scrapbooks.
