How Did We Get Here: the Ali Project

Frequently, Em, Kate and I sit around and wonder, "When did this happen?" It is often when we are doing something ridiculous, like driving around singing odd songs, or all squeezing into my bed. Often, I wonder "How did this happen," as we are sooooo completely and totally different. I know that opposites attract, but I didn't think it possible to have three polar opposites all click the way we do. Their friendship, however, has taught me to think less and laugh more, and make the little things add up; that charm and wit can travel the miles and have the same effect, and 280 miles apart or just across the room, they can make me light up. They were the finale of an amazing summer, making something I thought was sensational into an experience that I consider to be the most deeply-rooted, profound, sense-of-self insipring days of my life.

My first memory of Kate:

On the first day of staff training we were all split up into groups (not our color groups) and my group sat in a circle on the hill behind Copneconic Lodge, and Chris was our leader. I remember wrinkling my nose at brown-haired with glasses girl whose "silly fact" was that she didn't like belly buttons. However, when she mentioned that she liked dilly beans I knew that my nose wrinking had been in vain. Anybody who likes dilly beans is ok in my book.

My first memory(ies) of Em:

I remember talking with Em in Mohawk, and she walked without moving her arms and her chin in the air. I braided her hair when it was wet, and we swam the snake together, all the while complaining about the hickies we were going to have from the chafing orange life jackets. We talked the enitre way across the lake (Rich got to the island first, then me, then Em) and the entire way back. At retreat she taught me a ridiculously funny song to the tune of the Mario Nintendo music.


Em Law
I wish there were words to describe Em, but there aren't; she is so many things, and so complex- but at the same time so simple. She is what she is, she does what she likes, doesn't do what she dislikes, and for that I find her completely refreshing. She doesn't feel obligated to do things that she shouln't have to, which I really admire in people. She laughs at herself, along with pretty much EVERYTHING else; she's delightful in that she will talk about the silliest things (candy corn pools, how her middle name was pronounced "core in" at graduation, a pet octopus, etc) but also blow you away with her insight and ability to convey it in writing. Em, to me, is laughter and everything random- Em is nothing serious, but at the same time she will help you define yourself and they way you look at your life. She is everything you need to make you remember who you were, and forget who you are- in the best way possible. She is ;alksdf;aoiwhfkasd, and I love her for it.

KP
Kate is an amazing person, because she lets me know when I am being less than my best- let me explain. I have a mean streak and Kate calls me out on it. For this, I think she is brave. I also think she is brave because she really wants to know people; Kate isn't content with meeting people and learning about their past, she wants to know why they think the way they do, and she tries to see the skeletons in their closets to know the aspects of their lives that make them the people they are. She always looks for the best in people, and excuses them for less-than-desirable behavior because she just understands. She isn't capable of judging people, or of feeling superior, and in fact she puts a sense of calm over people; her presence makes you feel like nothing about your life is too far gone to fix. Kate does her own thing, and even though it may be the exact opposite of your own thing, you'll get along with her, and fall for her. Kate understands, and just knows.

Peace, love, and ponies.

"The meeting of two (three) personalities is like the contact of two (three) chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both (all three) are transformed."
-Carl Jung