Where crossroads began

I'm going back to Selinsgrove, PA, this weekend for Susquehanna University's homecoming festivities, but more so for a fun, private reunion with half of the original Crazy Train, Ms. Kacey "Caboose", aka my sanity for three years, the most fun girl to be around and one of the most important people in my life.






We met during Cross Country pre-season camp our first year at SU. I had just transferred from Syracuse and she had just arrived as a freshman. We bonded almost immediately, perhaps at first because we were having such a tough time with the runs and with nagging injuries.

We were collectively called the "caboose" at first because,well, yeah, we were pretty darn slow. Soon, I was given an undeserving new nickname, "Coal Car." We became pretty inseparable. Runs every afternoon and some weekends, parties Friday and Saturday nights and some of your typical fights between semi-sisters.






I don't even remember what the fights were about specifically, but I know two things. One, they were almost all my fault. I was in such a bad place for most of my college years and, well, they say you hurt the ones you love the most. And secondly, every time we had a fight, it hurt me so much to even think about the possibility of losing my friend.

Kacey is so fantastically special.
Like I said, she is SO.MUCH.FUN. I never laugh like I do when I am with her. I miss not having her around as often anymore, but we really make up for it when we do get together.
I've also seen her grow in so many ways. She's become a bit more confident and even a bit willing to put herself out there, to experience things maybe she was afraid to take a risk for earlier in life. And she is in such a happy place now! She definitely deserves it.



I was so happy that she was one of my bridesmaids and a huge beam of support during my wedding preparations. (If it weren't for my false eyelashes, she totally would have upstaged me on my own wedding day, too -- she was just gorgeous with a huge smile on every time I saw her that day!)

Due to a stressful relationship I was in during my years at Susquehanna and its unraveling during my senior year, I seem to have almost blocked out a lot of my time there. I guess you find ways to deal with things, and apparently this was how I "survived."

I have some really special memories of SU, though, and wouldn't you know, just about every single one involves Kacey.

There are the runs we were sent on by ourselves that may or may not have been a trick to sort of get rid of us... I mean, they had names like "prison" and "challenge" (think mental institution, people!).

The training room. AKA Temporary Injury Repair Exercise Shop, or TIRES, where we entertained ourselves with educational routines such as F***, Marry or Throw off a cliff. The nicknames we came up with...

There were the times where we put the "crazy" in Crazy Train... log rolling down hills, peeing on church property, getting lost, "My house is back there," drinking kerosene, "I'm from Jersey," theres-porn-in-the-bathtub, "Are these your sandals? I found them on the street," and many, many more.

There were also the times I may never have made it through without Kacey. I spent one weekend at a complete standstill, unable to move past a break-up of something I fought for and sacrificed for. I sat on the bedroom floor of my apartment, counting socks to see how long the person I loved would be gone, realizing there were too few socks to save a relationship, when Kacey just, without words, sat down behind me and held me and rubbed my back. She just knew.

That's the amazing thing about our friendship, we just know.


I can't wait to see her tonight. I'm excited to add to our list of adventures this weekend and to add to our stack of photographs and memories.

SU, Here we come!!!