Season 3: The Empire of Friends Blog 21: The Girl In The Church

 The Girl In The Church

August recently moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After I got my driver's license, I texted the group chat I'm in with my "sisters" and told them the news. After everyone congratulated me August asked me when I would be driving up to see her. I told her not for a while because I wasn't confident enough to make the three-hour drive on my own yet. It was at this point that Aspen suggested that she and I drive up there that weekend.

We couldn't go that weekend because August and her roommate had not completely unpacked everything yet. We weren't able to go the following week because of conflicts with Aspen's schedule. So three weeks after I got my license, Aspen and I drove to Pittsburgh.

After nearly three hours of driving, Aspen and I drove through a tunnel, and on the other side was the magnificent city of Pittsburgh! As we drove through the town, we couldn't believe that we were still in the midwest because the curvy roads felt more like California than Ohio. After another 30 minutes, we found ourselves at August's apartment. After we ate dinner, August drove us around the city, then we went back to the apartment to hang out.

Back at the apartment, I started stimming (hand flapping, squealing, and bouncing on the balls of my feet) because I was excited to be there. Eventually, we went to bed and got up at nine the next morning. Because it was Sunday, we knew we had to go to church, but we decided to go at 6:00 pm instead of in the morning because of daylight savings time.

We explored Pittsburgh all day and the whole time, I was cracking jokes and making the girls laugh. Throughout our childhood, we had an ongoing joke where I would say I was the funny one in the group, and the girls would disagree.

"You really are the funny one!" August said after I cracked one particularly funny joke.

"I told you!" I replied.

"I mean, I think we're all pretty funny!" Aspen said.

"I mean yeah," I agreed, "but comedy is all I have!"

The girls told me I was wrong. I decided not to joke about my "blossoming" teaching career and love life because it would have been depressing. I kind of wish I would have gone for it, though, because retroactively, the joke would have been incredibly ironic!

We got to the church right as Mass was about to start. August got into the pew first, followed by Aspen, and I sat at the end of the pew closest to the aisle. On the other side of the aisle, in another pew, was a beautiful woman. She saw me, and immediately she started stimming. I don't mean anything subtle; I mean full-on, bouncing her legs, rocking back and forth, and squealing! On top of that, when it was time for us to receive Holy Communion, I ended up in line behind her, which caused her to stim even more!

I don't bring this up to call out this woman on her stims. I bring it up because this girl thought I was cute, and while I will never see her again, at least I know there are some people out there who do. Sometimes you can assume the worst things about yourself and your future, especially now… But no matter what, those negative thoughts are always wrong!

Have A Greattastic Day and Be Safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri