I take way too many pictures. That's a relatively well-known fact. I always carry two cameras with me: a Nikon D60 for shooting the important stuff of life, and a Canon PowerShot for recording video and sneaking into "photo-free" zones. In fact, in my iPhoto I currently have 17,549 pictures (the enormity of that number just registered with me, and frankly, even I feel overwhelmed by its sheer size).
So trying to choose my favorite photo out of all of those options is nearly impossible. There is one picture, though, that strikes me as an all-time favorite. It's the image above, which captures one of the best adventures I've ever had in Southern California. Brody Smith, Dave Kob, Erin Macdonald, Mac Smith, and I decided to spend an entire Sunday sailing from Marina del Rey to Malibu and back. It was an impromptu event planned, literally, the day before the trip took place. We spent the day basking in the sunshine, toasting champagne, grilling great food, having dance parties, deflecting the attention of our crazy captain, Don, and illegally swimming in the ocean after we'd been instructed not to. It was perfect. And in the midst of the insanity, Don snagged my camera and captured this photo, which is now framed on the wall that I've dubbed my "hall of fame" in my apartment in Dallas. Don failed us in a lot of hilarious ways on our sailing trip; fortunately, capturing the joy evident in this photo was not amongst his shortcomings.
This picture is important to me for reasons beyond the bliss of that day spent sailing around the Pacific Ocean with fabulous friends. It signifies the integration of a beautifully, randomly connected group of people. Just one month prior to our sailing adventure, Erin, Dave, Mac, Brody, and I did not regularly pencil each other in to our schedules. In fact, half of us were in L.A. while the other half lived in Texas. I'd like to take the time to thank 21228 Pacific Coast Highway for bringing us together.
Mac and Brody, who are a pair of brothers that I befriended while at Pepperdine, were taking a hiatus from their Texan lives by spending the summer in Malibu. Generously, they lent me a key to their beach house while they vacationed in Florida with their family for 10 days. They also gave a copy of the key to Dave, one of Mac's fraternity brothers. Coincidentally, Dave and I met during my freshman year of college, when we spent the majority of our Intro to Journalism class making fun of each other. We hadn't reconnected in years and here we were: Roommates. I knew that Dave and I were destined to forge a new, fantastic friendship when I awoke to him jumping on my bed one morning, shrieking, "Get upppp, it's time for work!"
Fast forward three days: Erin comes back from a trip to Napa Valley and promptly moves in. At the same time, Mom was visiting and she took Erin (who was already her second daughter) and Dave (who became her second son) under her wing. The four of us (in addition to Nick Mason and Chris Jones, who are amongst Mom's other favorites) spent the weekend together and had a blast. We became family.
And then the Smiths returned. To their surprise, they learned that the three of us would not, in fact, be moving out. Can you blame us? We were living in the most picturesque home in all of Malibu with some of the greatest people this country's ever known--and trust me, neither of these claims are exaggerations.
If it's not evident through the words I've written in this post, I'll spit out my confession point blank: I fell in love with this group of friends in a way I never thought possible. We come from different backgrounds, friend groups, career paths, and geographic areas. And yet, the thing I continuously craved was time with this special group of people. I believe that it was our differences that bonded us together. Erin's passion for adventure reminded us to enjoy each and every day as the gift that it is. Mac's generosity taught us to be thankful that we have much, and to reciprocate by giving to those who have little. Dave's brilliant sense of humor encouraged us to laugh constantly, even if sometimes it means taking a break from this serious world to laugh at yourself. Brody's sweet spirit allowed us to contemplate the concept of stepping back from it all to drink in the beauty that constantly surrounded us. And we all believed in the therapeutic powers of an impromptu dance session, which served as a reminder to never forget to celebrate the little things. It was so much fun to watch our adventures unfold, knowing that while the summer would eventually end and that our lives would take us in different directions, we would forever share the bonds of 21228, Don Ivanko, and our friendship.
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