I'm back after traveling across the country and living at sea for a week. What. An. Experience. Alaska is so different than home. The mountains,
glaciers,
and wild life
is insane in comparison to Michigan. It was wonderful! Some of the highlights would have to be zip lining,
seeing the glaciers and waterfalls,
and the dog sled ride/meeting the puppies.
When we weren't in Alaska, we were on our cruise ship which, have I mentioned how much I love cruising?
Such great views,
food, shows, activities,
and memories. Holy cow the shows were AMAZING- I seriously think that might have been my favorite part. I looked forward to them all day everyday. The theater brought back so many memories of our studio performing on the few cruises we went on back in the good ole days...
That was so long ago...and makes me feel so old. Our first cruise was in 2005 I believe.. is that even possible?
Wow. That vacation will always go down in history as one of my favorite trips- not because of the places we visited- but because of the bonds I created and the huge performance of a lifetime we gave.
The Junkie Girls were practically formed on that cruise. Sure, we were all friends before but preparing and rehearsing for that cruise really brought us together. The entire ship knew us as the dancers and we loved all of the attention. Basically we sent in a audition tape, the cruise line watched our tape, liked us, invited us to come on one of their trips and be the entertainment. We put together some of our best competition pieces and took the competition team on the ship to perform. If we weren't lucky enough the first time around, they invited us back again in 2007.
What an experience of a lifetime. I will honestly never forget either trip.
Daydreaming about my high school days and our two cruises together really made me reflect on my friendships and my best friends. The Junkies got some horrible news last week and it really has made me step back and appreciate each of my friends in a whole new light. It was the kind of news that makes you think about life, the short time we have, and the things that are actually important. I think this tragedy really showed the Junkies that we are there for each other through thick and thin and that even if we all aren't close to each and every girl in the group, we have somebody in that group that we can count on today and the rest of our days no matter how long it has been since we last talked.
So the Junkies. Quick recap- 9 girls, all dance together, spend 3+ days a week together, become best friends for life. We were a tight knit group of girls all through high school
and are still today.
Our last recital was one of those experiences that I'll never forget... we cried an insane amount. It was honestly out of control. We even cried on stage for the whole world to see...like I said, crazy.
I talk to each of them at least once a week and they definitely keep me sane on my rough days. With that said, of course things change when we all move away and start new lives away at college. It's not that it's hard to maintain these relationships because we're best friends and it's just easy but at the same time it's still hard to adjust to the changes we all went through. First off, a few girls trailed off and we don't see them as much. Some of the girls aren't as close to each of the other girls as they used to be. It's tough. There are fall outs. Sometimes people change.
Moral of the story- never forget the ones that mean the most.
