Thunder crashed.
A quick glance told me everything I needed to know and in that instance we decided, "why the hell not?"
I sprinted out to the trampoline, clambered up the ricktey sides and began to jump. Rain crashed down, two best friends jumping, screaming, giggling, and hugging.
In that moment, we were infinite.
Short of breath, I thunked down on mat with a bounce and took a deep breath in of the Mississippi air, heavy with humidity and the promises of the future. On the eve of our high school graduation my best friend and I spent the night gossiping, reminising and dreaming of things to come. Lying there in the dark, we promised it would always be like this, no filters--just pure honesty.
That summer we would get tan at the beach...
One day I'd come back and we'd drive around and get coffee and sing John Mayer and Train...
One day we'd find beautiful smart boys that treated us the way we should...
One day we'd grow old and get married and be each others "Cheif Bridesmaids"...
One day we'd conquer our fears and live out our dreams...
One day we wouldn't feel so alone, like the other was the only one who would ever understand...
As I shifted my weight the springs beneath me squeaked; it was a careful balancing act, too much movement would knock the other person over. I was always a fan of the double bounce, both people jumping in sync and vaulting higher than you ever could on your own.
Lots of things in life begin that way, a split-second decison followed by an eager reckless start, the heady rush of adrenaline, promises you intend to keep--promises you promise you'll keep ; but life doesn't wait around, the world spins madly on.
After a while you realize that you aren't jumping in sync anymore and you don't try as hard to make it work. It doesn't mean you don't love jumping any less, but perhaps other things have replaced the sharp intake of breath, the barefeet, the catharsis of feeling free and light.
Perhaps sooner than we expected someone else comes and fills that void and you start the same jump with them. The same but different, because now we are a little older, a little wiser, a little less dependent; you trust in new ways--strange yet refreshing ways. Things begin to happen that we never thought would happen and we aren't there to share them like we promised we would, but it isn't a bad thing.
We look up and life is happening all around us. I think we just have to learn to keep jumping, to not be afraid to fall off or out of sync, but to get back on and keep trying. One day we will get there (wherever the hell "there" is) as long as we remember our first leap, together.
