Tuesday, June 21, 2005

the BCG's

I'll forewarn you...sometimes I feel like I'm in a movie. And last night I sure did.

I don't know what kind of movie, but some movie about a group of friends or something. maybe Now and Then, or Circle of Friends, or the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, or Sex & the City (without the sex part...or the city, for that matter), or something like that. It's about 6 girls with totally different personalities, but these friendships are like nothing else. It is one of the most unique groups of friends I've ever had in my entire life. 4 of us were together last night, and it was the most fun i've had in awhile.

Here's how we met (if you want the long story...if you don't, too bad!):
I traveled w/ Krista Upchurch, now Krista Weber, 2 summers ago as LCC reps, and we did 6 weeks of CIY conferences and the NACC. That was our summer job. Loved it.

Anyways, @ CIY all summer, we just so happened to be w/ 2 girls from Johnson Bible College (Faith and Laura Ashley) and 2 girls from Cincinnati Bible College (Becka and Abbra) the entire 6 weeks. After our first week in Adrian, MI we pretty much felt like we'd known each other for years. Needless to say, the end of the summer was not the end of our friendships.

Normally when you experience camp teams or CIY teams or something, there tends to be an unspoken Bible College rivalry, or at least some sense of "come to my school b/c it's better than yours" or "you know where liars go...liars go to Ozark (or, you fill in the blank w/ whichever Bible College you don't want people to go to)," etc. We pretty much broke the mold in the summer of 2003 as we donned ourselves "the BCG's" (Bible College Girls). Call us cheesy, but whatever.

It's pretty funny how things have happened in the past 2 years. Abbra got engaged during the middle of our summer, and she got married the next January. That was our next reunion. Then Krista got engaged in Feb. or March., and got married this past December. That was another reunion. Then L.A. got engaged this past year and gets married in 2.5 weeks in Knoxville. There is now still one married/engaged person on each BC team and one single girl. Not that we're identified in that sense, but nevertheless, it's a fact.

The future is quite exciting for each of us at this point:
In a year, who knows, maybe I'll live in Texas?
Faith is moving in August to NYC to teach ESL.
Becka currently lives in California and is a surfing maniac.
Krista & Josh are happily married and seeking some future opportunities in ministry.
Abbra & Mike are expecting a BABY in November!!!
L.A. and Randall get married in a couple weeks and will be interning @ Eastview in Bloomington!

Last night, as Faith, L.A., Krista, and I enjoyed dinner @ Biaggi's and a nice dessert drink @ Starbucks outside we helped plan L.A.'s wedding details, shared memories, and laughed a TON. I sometimes wanted to stand outside of the moment and see what it looks like to other people. And then I realized, it's totally like a movie. Or a black and white picture of 4 girls laughing hysterically, completely caught up in the moment. I love it. I wouldn't trade it for the world, and I can't wait to have the 6 of us (plus the 3 husbands) together again soon!

I hope someday if there's actually a movie about us that it will capture our friendships in an undramatic, simple way like this post cannot justly do.

3 comments:

joolz said...

I can totally see the snapshot. Hands on glasses, heads thrown back with laughter, black & white, eyes shining with community and love, and the pure joy you wrote about.

You're a lucky girl, Mandy.

Cory said...

I'm glad you have that, too, Mandarin. Those are the best of times. I totally feel that way with Amy and Shannon. We could be in the middle of nowhere with nothing around and always be in the happiest place at the same time.

Mandy said...

i'm glad i have it too. it's so weird, the friendships between the 6 of us girls. we're as close (in my mind) as I am w/ the other friends of mine who are from here. that's the best kind of friendship: "we could be in the middle of nowhere with nothing around and always be in the happiest place at the same time."

joolz--that snapshot is EXACTLY what i picture, and exactly what it was.