Recognition Series: pt. 14 - Tish W

After putting together a T-shirt with a friend's face on it (he was a bit of a local celebrity, and we actually sold around 100 shirts, with all profits going to Haiti after the big earthquake), I met a girl named Angelica, who was also an avid volleyballer. Between meeting her and having another friend Michael who was very into volleyball, I somehow ended up playing in a sorority volleyball tournament. Now, mind you, I am definitely not one of the kids on the Greek scene, it's not my thing and never has been. Plus, as much as I'm down to get in a speedo for the beach, pastel plaid shorts with 4 inch inseams just seems absurd...

Anyways, during the volleyball game, Angelica had also invited one of her friends, Tish, who went to another university in the area. I was immediately taken with this girl, and couldn't stop sneaking glances in her direction; she was gorgeous. We added each other on Facebook (this was freshman year, back when I had a Facebook) but never really talked too much. Back then I was a lot more shy and I guess I figured I'd never really have a chance to see her again after the tournament.

By the end of freshman year I had made up my mind that I was going to delete my Facebook for good. However, wanting to keep up with the connections I had made there, I posted several statuses saying that I was going to be leaving the Facebook world, and that if you wanted my phone number or email or whatever else, to just let me know. It was then that Tish messaged me asking for those very things! To be perfectly honest I was shocked -- and also thrilled. Here was this gorgeous girl and she wanted to be able to get in touch with me!?

Long story short, we got to talking and decided to hang out. Unfortunately, the timing was bad and the first time we really got together was the night before I was going to leave to go home for the summer. But, we had a great time and took a really long walk around campus just chatting and talking. As we got back to my apartment and I was getting ready to say bye for the night, we exchanged a long hug, and at that moment I knew I wanted to kiss her. And yet I chickened out and didn't.

Over the course of that night and the next morning I begged her to stop by in the morning to say one last goodbye before I left. She may not have known it, but I had told myself that I refused to leave SC without giving her a proper goodbye. When she came by we talked a little, and when my parents texted me saying they were close, we said goodbye again and I just went for it. I'm so glad I did.

Over that summer, despite the distance we emailed each other all the time talking about our lives, and filling out these little surveys of questions we created for each other to get to know one another. I will treasure these emails for the rest of my life, and I'm sure I probably found out a lot of new things about myself too. She was smart, sweet, into church, and athletic and I couldn't really ask for more.

When I came back down to SC she came the day I moved in to welcome me back, and went to lunch with my parents. My parents seemed to like her and my dad even remarked to me much later down the line that she was truly a great girl. We eventually made things official (I wrote her a big long poem; I like to try to be creative), but unfortunately for some reason things only lasted for a few weeks. I was really disappointed, seeing as how I thought we really kicked off an amazing start, bonding so much emotionally over the summer.

As time passed, we didn't talk much, but we did every once in awhile and while we don't talk now I'd have no problem chatting with her and seeing how life is on her end at all. I know she had a lot of interesting ideas about the direction in which to take her life and had some really great aspirations about things she wanted to achieve. She was and I'm sure still is a great girl who deserves the best, and though I may never see her again, I hope that life deals her some good cards.