A Whole Other Life In My Backyard

When my family and I moved here fourteen years ago, we moved into a neighborhood that was in the process of being developed. It was a small neighborhood at the top of a hill with a freshly paved cul-de-sac in the middle. Each house had at least two acres, and the house that we chose had a view from our backyard of an entirely different neighborhood with a valley separating the two of us. I never really did give much attention to any of these details until only recently, on account of the fact that I will be moving away shortly. So it probably goes without saying that one particular house within view from my backyard was also given no special significance by me, but now I realize the great friendship I could have developed at an early age with the young resident of that house. Her name is Stephanie and she has actually lived there her entire life, but I regretfully never knew any of this until just this year. It never ceases to amaze me how someone that has so much potential to influence my life can exist right in my own backyard for almost all of my life without me ever knowing.
Now that I have developed a friendship with Stephanie, I chose to get to know her a little better. While she and I were relaxing in the study at my house, I asked her about what little I knew about her. I asked her about her volleyball enthusiasm and when it had all started. I could tell from the start of her speaking that this was going to be a deeper subject than I would have anticipated. She went on nostalgically talking about how her parents had actually met while playing volleyball, and in turn had fallen in love. I could almost hear her smile through her voice as she said that she had been raised with volleyball in her crib, much like an ordinary child would be raised with the classic rattle and blanket. I also came to learn that her father had owned a volleyball company as she grew up and later, in seventh grade, she started playing on the school volleyball team, of which she continues to this day. I am further intrigued as I learned this because I had always been a bit one sided when it came to sports (I’m not really a fan of any sports) until I learned of the meaning they hold to some people, especially Stephanie. I also couldn’t help but realize the similarity to her upbringing as to mine, except in my case my grandfather was a blacksmith and had given me my first sword at the fragile age of two, further advancing his blacksmithing legacy into my hands now.
As we continue our casual talking, I move to the subject of her future, and I ask how she wants to live in the later stages of life. Stephanie does an excellent job of catching me off guard when she says that she wants to live in Montana. Her eyes are ecstatic as she says, “I want to live in the middle of nowhere…I want to live in a big house with a big yard on top of a hill.” I am baffled to learn that this presumably average teenage girl wants to live in a secluded, peaceful state while most other girls her age are focused on things such as materials, wealth, and [usually] living in a bustling city. As she continues, I further notice how similar she is to me, as I too wish to live in a secluded, beautiful place like that of hers. “We wanted open skies,” she responds as I ask when she had first longed to live in Montana. She bases it off of John Denver’s song titled ‘Montana Sky’. I can feel the emotion reaching from her words as she speaks about the future she longs to live.
Our casual conversation in the study becomes deeper as I continue to ask about her life. I became rather jealous when I learned that she had left the country a total of four times, once traveling to Russia on a cruise, and another two times when leaving to serve on a mission trip to Peru that lasted a total of eleven days. The other trip was to Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Italy with her grandparents. I can tell that I have hit a soft spot with Stephanie when she mentioned her grandparents. I came to learn that family is a very important part of her life, and a particular great grandmother Park was a pivotal influence to Stephanie in her life. Great grandmother Park was a woman whose faith in God never wavered for the ninety and some odd years that she lived. As I ponder about the importance of this astounding woman, I can’t help but notice that Stephanie herself shows many of the attributes that Grandmother Park showed. Stephanie, to me, seems like a woman in a young person’s body, especially in that she has such a firm and undoubting set of beliefs and standards that I can guess are comparable to Grandmother Park’s. I’ve often seen Stephanie making decisions with such firm faith and knowledge, when even a middle-aged adult would struggle in the same situations. She truly is a firm example of the bonds that a family can share.
At the end of our discussion the night begins to grow deeper outside, bringing a close to the meaningful conversation. Now as I reflect on all that I’ve learned about Stephanie, something struck me: To me it seems that throughout the years our lives have always tried to come into contact with one another, but it has taken all these years for us to actually meet. I realize that I have had countless opportunities to meet her, from when we would ride the same bus home from school or even in the fact that we had the same best friend at a young age! I can think of countless experiences where I had the opportunity to meet and get to know her, but life has preferred to wait until the moment I move away to actually meet this friend that could have been a source of help and inspiration to me throughout most of my life. It would seem that life has its twists and turns that we may never understand, but we simply must continue on the path placed before us without question.