Dear Amy at 18,
Right around now we start plotting ways to get out of here. The town is too small, our car is gone, we are back together with L but they aren’t going so well, and all things considered we just want to go back to school. A degree isn’t anything we are interested in, but we definitely want to get back out there and beef up our grammar and editing so that we can publish our first book. Its as ambitious as it is a take-charge-attitude and my best advice is hold onto that for as long as possible.
Come New Years we have handed in our notice, packed the few essentials (like our computer), filled everyone in, and are ready to go down to the Okanagan. Our boss doesn’t actually read our letter until the day before which makes for an odd exit… don’t worry about that either. We pause in Merritt for News Years with S which has become tradition and she decides to come with us. It doesn’t last long because we can’t find a place and there are other things on our minds, but it was a good effort.
The job hunt is also a bit rough and we start applying for almost anything. A great job pops up with Scholastic running book fairs and we apply; definitely a dream company to get an in with for someone who wants to write. We get a call back but the voice on the other end is hard to hear; there is a phone number, but we never get it right. Trust me when I say that we desperately dialed a lot of wrong numbers. Eventually we give in and go to Staples to ask if they will accept our transfer and they do after a quick interview.
Enter, Alex. We definitely thought that we were working with the other Alex, whom we had already met, but we also definitely caught this new Alex staring at our butt. An interesting friendship is born that involves Chinese food ordered to the store, telling L that there is no more us, bringing along another guy to our first “date,” and sharing sushi while guessing songs. There’s almost a first kiss on a bridge… but we are both indecisive losers. He offers to buy us coffee and gives us his bank card and pin number so that we can grab it for both of us while on our break – our heart stops because we have identical pin numbers, and the rest is for you to experience. And that is exactly what it is.
Two of our friends have babies, we attend both baby showers, go to the graduation ceremony for those who were in the year below us, finally pick up our year books, and see KM for the last time in person. That’s a worry for another year, but it’s too long.
We take Alex to Quesnel to meet the family, realize he fits in with our two year age gap perfectly. Apply to college, get accepted, start college, find out all of our classes equal a degree, and start mapping out our courses for something we never knew we wanted.
– A
A. N. Stetzl 