When introduced to new things or people that I’ve never heard of or seen before, I tend to be reluctant. People say “Live life like it’s the last day you have” or “Live in the moment” but I tend to think things through before I do them, especially when I don’t know what will happen. But take it from me, sometimes in life, you should really try to do things sooner rather than later and live in the moment. I really learned this a little less than a year ago when I went on vacation with my best friend, Monique, to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

At this time, my friend and I were about 5’ 2”. Monique had bleach blonde hair and bright blue eyes. A dark blue though, like the color of the sky before the day turns completely into night. When we would go to the beach right behind our hotel, she would wear denim shorts, a t-shirt, and a peach colored bathing suit underneath that. Light freckles peppered her nose and cheeks. Her white teeth shone by her energetic smile was noticeable from a mile away. And even if she was laughing for real or pretending to think somethings funny, you would never tell the difference.

The guy had blonde hair, maybe even lighter than Monique’s. It wasn’t until we got closer to him that I realized that his eyes were ocean blue on the outside, but gradually got lighter and greener towards his pupils, like clear ocean water creeping up onto a black sand beach. He looked like he belonged on one, too. Every day he would go to the shore behind our hotel and ride his skim board for hours. It was pale wood with a black design on it that kind of looked like a palm tree of some sort. His swim shorts were white on the upper half with two blue strings pouring out of holes right at the top, and about halfway down, two blue stripes the same color as the strings were sewn on. The last fourth of his pants were the same blue as the stripes and the strings, a deep denim blue that somewhat resembled the night sky. From our window, this is how we could tell it was him on the beach. His skin was tan, which made him resemble the type of guy who lives on a beach or has a job as a lifeguard. His arms were muscly and smooth, dotted with dark freckles.

Monique and I would hang out on the beach for hours when we saw that he would come down from the hotel or get back from a place where he went. It wasn’t until we got to talk to him that we even realized that he was staying in the same hotel as us. And for the record, it took us a whole three days to work up the courage to get his attention. A whole Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We made fools of ourselves trying to get him to notice us. We would hook our arms together and ‘crab walk’ in both directions on the golden sand. One time waiting for him, we were just messing around on the beach when Monique fell on her back in the sand and into the shallow water of the high tide. It wasn’t until after she got up that she realized her phone was in her back pocket and was now covered in water and clogged with sand. We had to hurry upstairs and fix it before he got back if we wanted any chance at talking to him finally.

When we got back down to the water, he came back out from his hotel room and better yet, noticed us and our stupidity. “Is that some sort of dance or something?” he said to us. We broke out in laughter and went over to him to talk. His name was Sam. We talked and hung out for the rest of the day after that and it was starting to get late and the wind was picking up. He offered me the clean white towel he had brought down for himself because he saw that my teeth were starting to chatter and I was starting to shiver. I gladly took it. We hung out with him for the next few days since then and we became really good friends.

You don’t expect to have bad days on vacation but, I can guarantee that Monique and I had one of the worst days EVER. We went to bed early in hopes of waking up at a decent time in order to say bye to Sam who was leaving the next day. We were woken up by the large, heavy door of our room slamming and her mom and mom’s friend laughing over something. We woke up and sprang out of bed. I don’t think we’ve ever gotten ready that fast in our lives. We were rushing out of the door when Monique’s mom said, “Where are you two going?”

We had to quickly explain that we had to go say bye to Sam before he left because we didn’t know if we would ever see him again, granted he lived in North Carolina, I lived in Massachusetts, and Monique lived in Connecticut.
“Oh you mean that boy with the skim board that you guys always hang out with?” Yes of course that’s him, but what about him? We thought this at the same time “He left about ten minutes ago. He came up here and walked up and down the hallway a few times before he left. He was probably looking for you guys.”

Our mouths dropped open and in unison we yelled, “Why didn’t you wake us up?!” we were devastated. Our best friend was gone and we had no way to contact him.

When I look back I see me, Monique and him in the bubbling, smoky water of the hotel hot tub outside. His hair tossed about by a mixture of saltwater and wind. Looking at him and realizing where I was made me realize that taking a chance really pays off.