Age 11
I remember your family talking about this trip every year.
You'd all get excited the week leading up and once you got back it was all you could talk about.
I had always remembered it as the one week out of the year I didn't get to see my best friend.
But this year you invited my dad and I.
My dad couldn't go the whole week because they needed him at the station, but he promised to come up for a couple of days.
He said I could go as long as we slept in separate rooms.
He doesn't understand that you're just my best friend, even if you are a boy.
But Esme said you, Alice, and I could sleep in the tent you always put up in the living room at the house.
As long as Alice is there…
Emmett says he's too old for stuff like that so he's staying in the actual bedroom.
But we both know he'll cave
We swim everyday even though the water is freezing
When my dad comes up with the boat you and I wake up extra early to go fishing with him and your dad.
We make s'mores by the fire every night and stay up late while everyone else is asleep, talking in the tent with the flashlight.
Halfway through the week when Emmett asks if he can sleep in the tent too, we let him.
By the end of the week I don't want to go home.
You've turned a week that I dreaded every year to one I'll cherish.
You tell me that this year's trip was the best one ever because I was there.
You make me promise to come every year.
You've already asked your parents and they've said yes.
So I do.