Post Ada Ohio Post

Hello, dear friends. I’m back from a wonderful weekend (with a complicated ending- darn you Dallas) to snowy Ohio where one of my best mates, Jeremy, has been settled for four years now. Rey/Bubba and I have been saying since Jerm moved to Ada that we would visit and finally, just in time for his last theatre play, did we get the chance. Now, if you’ve known me for a while (as in middle school/high school) you probably know that these boys are basically my life. From kind of theatre (I quit), to kind of swimming (Rey quit), to kind of orchestra (they both quit), we’ve stuck by each other no matter how rough things got (and boy did they). They mean more to me than I can ever adequately explain. I won’t go into a play-by-play about what we did this weekend, but I will share with you 11 things/moments that I’m sincerely happy I got to experience (not in any particular order).

1. Being reunited with the boys, duh. Just look at how we’ve grown. Or actually…look how we haven’t changed all that much (in appearances or behaviors). From 7th grade to seniors in university. Love you goobers.

2. Witnessing and being apart of Jeremy’s other world. That place that I never quite understood. What exactly is Ada, Ohio? And who are these people you speak of, Jeremy? Who are those people in your snapchat story? Well, I finally got to figure it out and all I have to say is, you have a pretty solid life up there and I’m so happy for you.

3. Meeting his girlfriend, Sarah. Because Jeremy is one of my best mates, I’m obviously a little more protective of him. This weekend though, I discovered that Sarah is absolutely everything he made her out to be. I may even prefer her over Jeremy now. She’s a keeper, Jerm. And to Sarah, thank you for being an incredible part of Rey’s and my travel experience, it definitely would not have been anywhere near the same without you. #singingintheshower

4. Rey + Snow/Seeing Rey Fall into the Snow. Bubba got his first experience of snowfall on this weekend journey and witnessing him be totally unprepared for the cold was kind of really entertaining. He constantly forgot to put on his gloves and never layered up properly. Still, we had a blast playing around and experiencing everything that many 6-12 year olds get to do on snow days, including good ol’ snowballs and attempts at making snow angels. (pictured below)

5. Substitute parents. Jeremy’s parents surprised him with a visit this past weekend as well! I don’t get to see my own parents very often while I’m away at university so it was really lovely to have his around for a couple days. They definitely made me slightly homesick. It was just really great to have parent figures around again and to see how much they love and are proud of their son. Plus, I have never had enchiladas as good as Mrs. Martinez made them. Yum!

6. Not having to rush to see things. It’s Ohio. It was Ada. We could just relax. Sleepy, slow mornings meant we could just enjoy our time. Typically when I visit I spend a lot of time commuting and waiting in lines to see “important” things, but this time, we just spent a lot of time being together. Not always on our phones, promise.

7. Putting these babies into good use for once. I bought these silly snow boots for France last winter and to my luck, it didn’t snow. So they were sitting at home collecting dust waiting for this brilliant opportunity to spark up. Well, who would have thought Ada, Ohio would be the first place I got to use them? I got to bounce around in the snow and not worry about wet shoes afterward thanks to them. (Does anyone else think my right foot look like it belongs on the left?)

8. Surprisingly being appointed a seat next to Rey when I wasn’t even supposed to be on that flight. The rough ending I mentioned in the beginning of this post involved getting to the airport in Columbus only to discover that American Air had canceled their flights to Dallas that evening. Therefore, I was switched over to United and took one of the last spots to Houston. What are the chances that my ticket would be the one next to my beloved Bubba? I didn’t even have to bribe or ask someone nicely for this gift. So, thank you, Dallas for having canceled flights? Spoiler: we slept the whole way.

9. Jeremy as a pimp. I’ve always known that Jeremy is a great actor so I wasn’t surprised to figure out that he rocked his performance. What was interesting to discover, however, was how much he also rocked a fishnet tank, spiky hair, and being the baddest pimp of all Cuba (and part time prostitute?) Sorry you died, Jeremy. I’m so happy I got to see your show. But remember, smoking is bad for you and so is being a pimp.10. lowercase gOD.You know those moments when you think back on a memory and go “ah, you just had to be there”. I feel like this trip had a lot of those now that I’m reminiscing and trying to explain this trip to others. Bubba and I got the chance to meet many of Jeremy and Sarah’s lovely friends. Diego, you get a special shout out for being so charismatic and sassy and for realizing that you didn’t need to have a filter around us. I personally think it felt like we had all been friends for years already.

11. Singing in the shower. I won’t post a photo of this for reasons of…we were ridiculous. Picture this video, but of us on a dance floor instead.

All in all, this was an extremely successful weekend trip. I said this to Jeremy’s friends, but we are all really lucky/blessed to have him in our lives. And I’m the luckiest girl in the world to have been in this incredible three-way (hehe) friendship for the last ten years. Here’s to ten and more years of friendship to come.

——————————————————————————————————————

Also, as different as this trip was from NYC, they were both remarkable in their own ways. I’m very content with everything right now…except the cold. Now I’m just tired of the cold. I’m going somewhere warm next and no one can stop me. The last bit that I want to share with you all is just some advice: if you are craving an adventure, a weekend getaway, a moment of clarity outside of your bubble, I say do it. Get out there and do what you can for yourself. If you don’t have the money, start saving up now. If you’re as reckless as I am, put it on a credit card (I’m not actually endorsing this). Stop coming up with a list of reasons why you can’t when there are so many more for why you should. I did and I can honestly say these decisions have been the best and I feel so much better than I have in a long time. What is it that the kids say nowadays, #yolo?

See more photos from both Weekends 1 & 2 at: http://maryannareyes.22slides.com/weekendjourneys