Our Story

I was wandering the lakeside lawn at Honeyrock Camp in the Northwoods of Wisconsin in the summer of 2017. I paused at a cluster of rocks. For no reason other than curiosity I poked my head in between the rocks. At the base of one I found a curious metal tin. Upon opening it, I found it contained a curious goop, and cautiously smelled it as though I had discovered an alien artifact. I turned the open tin to my friend, and he looked at me like I was crazy for opening said mystery tin. Not knowing what to do I placed it gently back where I had found it. Little did I know that this discovery may have saved Sienna’s future opinion of me. 

 

I had just turned 17 and was attending a four week leadership-oriented camp that year. Sienna was part of a grueling 8-week program called Service Team. She worked that summer in sets of 40-hour work weeks, in the kitchens, the barn, and auto shop. While I spent the summer flitting around pretending I was on a glorified vacation, Sienna was grinding. All this to say, I noticed her one afternoon serving drinks to a dining hall full of kids. She wore the crimson Solid Rock t-shirt and wore her hair in a functional yet epic ponytail. Immediately I was inspired by the way she interacted with everyone around her. I could tell from 50 feet across the room and in less than 5 seconds that each and every person who knew Sienna was excited and happy to see her, be around her, and know her. In that moment I knew I had to talk to her.

 

Weeks went by in a haze, and I kept noticing Sienna. Once sprinting across the lawn in zealous pursuit of someone or something. A couple times reading by her cabin. Each time was not right, and slowly I lost hope of the meet-cute I was searching for. It didn’t help that she spent most of her time working, and the time she didn’t spend working she was surrounded by her fellow Service Teamers. On a particularly hot day with about a week left in my program, I was hiding from the heat in the Bears Den (a lounge with board games and couches and snacks for purchase). I was playing card games, pestering my fellow campers, and generally doing nothing at all. I glanced outside, tempted to pursue an outdoor activity, but through the window I could see heat waves pulsating off of the grass. I sunk lower in my couch. Then in a stroke of providence Sienna and her friend walked in and sat at the couch right next to mine. They were deep in conversation and so I tempered my now excited brain. I quickly readjusted my posture and rummaged for my journal. For if my 17 year old self knew anything it was that men who were wise and interested in self reflection were much more attractive and mature. I partly scribbled and partly eavesdropped on their conversation. Nothing stood out to me eavesdropping so I focused on my writing a bit more. After a couple minutes I noticed the Bears Den was quiet again. Sienna’s friend had fallen asleep and Sienna was doodling in a notebook. This was my great chance, here we were the two of us. Both doodling in our respective journals. I slid gracefully down the length of the large polyester blue couch mustered the courage to speak.

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“What are you drawing?” 

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Sienna looked at me, flipped her notebook around, and I figured I was better off not showing her the Minecraft doodle I was doing in my journal. Our conversation continued for quite some time. We talked about siblings, California, the outdoors, Honeyrock, art, music, and really whatever I fancied. Like a talented conversationalist she is, Sienna was making sure I felt like the most interesting person alive. I had very little awareness of this, or the fact that she had just got off an 8 hour shift in the kitchen, and I had spent a busy day lounging. So naturally I talked her poor ear off. Somehow the conversation transitioned and she began to lament the loss of her mother’s precious homemade lip balm. It was then that I visualized my knight-in-shining-armor moment. I happened to know exactly where that lip balm was. I led Sienna outside to the pile of boulders. With great gravitas I reached into the depths of the rock pile and extracted the tin. Sienna was beside herself with joy and I thought smugly to myself that surely she had a crush on me now. 

 

She did not. It took several years of showing up, late nights talking about everything and nothing, and the longevity and trust of an unshakable friendship.