Memory Lane

I was 17 and had just graduated high school the first time I went to Newport Beach with Noah's family. It was the last week of July in a bittersweet summer, whose end meant that I'd have to say goodbye to Noah and the house I grew up in & move to college {life held a twist for me just a measly month later but, at that time, I was oblivious to what the future held and felt only dread in my veins}. I don't know if bittersweet is accurate, maybe extra sweet fits better. At 17, I was a little bit wild with a flair for the dramatic; it would not be an exaggeration to say that time felt "fleeting". 

Noah & his dad picked me up from the airport, and I was wearing the cutest black eyelet dress from Forever 21, a store that I had just discovered during my last spring break of high school. That night we went to a carnival to watch some live music, and I found myself crying quietly against the music, crying toward the future. 

The next day was sunnier, and we rented a tandem bike and cycled down to Huntington Beach. We joked about how people who do couples' counseling should be forced onto a tandem- it's teamwork like I've never seen; of course we were naturals {after three or four good squabbles}. We stopped for Mexican food just off where the water meets Huntington, the beach that feels like home to a girl who spent summer days there with her Mimi. The burrito we ordered was huge, unfinishable by just two people. We packed up the leftovers and promptly left them there, my most egregious habit.

The next couple days we walked the piers and ate organic strawberries that we bought on the street. We ate pizza slices in the video arcade. We wrestled the waves and the ocean scared me with its vastness. I felt safe anyway, safe with the knowledge that Noah's a swimmer and he loves me. 

 His parents were kind and bought him a ticket to fly back to Phoenix with me. It was our first flight together, and the first time he really saw what motion sickness can be. As he rubbed my back over my sweaty t-shirt, I remember thinking that even nausea is better with him. 

I'm leaving tomorrow morning for a repeat vacation in Newport with Noah's lovely family. I've already sworn Noah to the strawberries and the tandem and the big burrito. This time, I'll even remember not to forget it.