It was the summer between my junior and
senior years of high school. I had just gotten back from a month long
trip in Hawaii. I went to Hawaii as one of the many students involved
with the TexasHawaii program. A freshman biology teacher from my high
school, named Jeff Schwarz, basically runs the program. For about the
past thirty years Mr. Schwarz has led a large group of high school
students, gathered from several different public schools spread
around the city, on this month long trip which aims to teacher
students about the importance of human impact on the environment by
immersing them in one of America's most vulnerable ecosystems, the
Hawaiian islands.
To say that I was eager to see my
friends upon my return home would be an understatement. One of the
people who initially reach out to me after getting back was my friend
Landon. We had met each other on tennis team during my freshman year
of high school. Landon was two years older than me and a sophomore in
college at the time. I hadn't seen him since he had up and moved out
of state to Montana for college, and I was surprised when I got a
text message from him one evening. He invited me to come an apartment
downtown near UT's west campus where our mutual friend Matthew, also
the same age as Landon, had been living. Excited to reconnect with my
old friends, I happily accepted and drove downtown with my girlfriend
that night.
We parked the car, walked to the
apartment complex, up a spiral staircase and soon found ourselves at
the front door. Upon entering, we were greeted by many friendly face,
both familiar and foreign. The party was well attended and everyone
was doing something. People were dancing in a circle as someone
hunched over a Macbook that had seen better days attempted to DJ.
Some were sitting around a humongous television screen playing FIFA.
Others still were catching up, swapping stories, trying to convince
one another which of them, in fact, had had the best freshman year
while sipping on sparkling waters-- you know, typical teenager stuff.
After a series of warm embraces, Landon caught my attention and
motioned for me to follow him and a small group of people into
Matthew's room.
I walked in the room and turned my head
as I heard the sudden sound of the door locking behind me. As I
returned my gaze to the center of the room, I noticed that a group of
about seven people had assembled in a circle on Matthew's king-sized
bed. In the middle of the bed laid the biggest sandwich I had ever
seen. It was about three feet long and intricately designed from the
looks of it. Growing up in Austin, I had always been aware of
sandwiches in passing, but never had I come in this close contact
with one. People were taking turns examining the sandwich, passing it
around taking small bites. Eventually someone offered it to me. I was
nervous to say the least.
Matthew and Landon quickly read the
worried expression on my face and assured me everything would be
fine. I thought to myself, “Why not? I'm a fun-loving guy.” And
so I went for it. My friends helped me out with my first few bites.
After three or four my throat was absolutely on fire! The hot sauce
really got to me. I rushed out of the room toward the kitchen and got
myself some water. Unfortunately, a college student's apartment isn't
exactly the most well-equipped. Warm water from the tap did nothing
satiate me. I hurriedly looked in the refrigerator. Barren. I swung
open the door of the freezer. The only thing inside was a half-frozen
milkshake from Whataburger. Desperate for anything cold, I grabbed it
and scarfed it down.
My girlfriend could tell I wasn't
feeling my best and suggested that we take our leave. I agreed and we
quickly toured the apartment saying rushed goodbyes here and there.
As we walked back to the car, I couldn't help but notice that my lips
were shaking uncontrollably. I was incredibly anxious. I had bitten
off more than I could chew both figuratively and literally. What
would people think?
We entered the car, and buckled up. I
slowly began to feel more secure as she turned on the car and headed
home. Downtown Austin is quite hilly and designed in a grid system.
More often than not, you inevitably hit several red lights and have
to wait at many an intersection before reaching the highway. Our car
was stopped on a steep, downward-sloping hill as we were waiting for
a light to turn green. Just as the light changed, so did I. All of
the sudden, this overwhelming feeling of fullness washed over me. I
remarked to Lauren to that I could feel myself sinking into the seat,
overcome by the immense weight of the sandwich. Soon we were on the
highway. A sea of crimson tail lights guided us safely home.
Upon arriving at my house, we emerged
from the car a pair of detectives. We sleuthed our way to my front
porch. Looking through the glass portion of my front door, I noticed
my father lying on the couch half asleep. Neither of us felt like
waking him, nor did we have a curfew, so we decided to sneak around
back and spend the pleasantly cool night sitting on my back porch
swing. We held hands, talked, and played music just above a whisper
on our iPods for what seemed like forever. It was pure bliss.
Eventually we both grew tired and parted ways. I went inside and laid
awake for a bit, just thinking. What a great night.
And this was just the first of many
nights I spent with sandwiches. Since then, sandwiches have really
changed my life. Growing up, I had been told to stay away from
sandwiches because they were bad. That night definitely marked a
change in me. If sandwiches were wrong, then I didn't want to be
right. Sandwiches made me think differently in more way than one. I
discovered that it's up to you to make your own decisions. You can't
live your life in fear of something without ever experiencing it for
yourself. I began to think more critically about things. I started to
make my own choices in life. I have had some of the best times of my
life hanging out with friends, enjoying a nice sub. Sandwiches have
definitely brought me closer to my family as well. A mutual love of
sandwiches is something my cousins and I all have in common, and it's
honestly served to strengthen many a relationship.
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