On a bright, sunny day in the summer of 2019 I was on my way to SunRiver. My twenty other friends and I were going to SunRiver for a retreat. Some of us were in the giant white car we called The Marshmallow on our way to get coffee in Sisters. I was sitting next to Ellise, who was desperately begging for coffee. Once we got to the Sisters Coffee Company, Ellise practically soared out of the van towards the entrance. She waited and waited for what felt like days to order her coffee. “May I please have a Large decaf soy milk latte,” she politely, but quickly asked. Next she stood around waiting for her coffee to be ready. Three minutes past and the barista called her name. She went up to get her order and tragically noticed that it was the wrong drink. After a while she came out of the shop with two drinks. One in her left hand, the wrong coffee, and one in her right hand, the right coffee. 

Once we were all in the car, and the engine had started we were off. About fifteen minutes down the road Ellise had finished her first coffee and was on to the second one. A little bit into the second beverage she decided to transfer it from the plastic coffee cup to her water bottle which would keep it cool. During this time I was thinking inside my head about all the possible results of this event. She could successfully pour the drink into the water bottle or she could totally fail and pour it all over herself leaving herself soaked for the rest of the trip. The worst result would be her accidentally spilling it on both of us.  

So she started pouring the drink and I started panicking. The intense feeling in the vehicle and the suspense was finally broken by her successfully pouring the drink into her water bottle. A split second after the coffee landed in the wattle bottle Ellise accidentally let go of it and it spilled all over me. It was worse than my worst fear, she had spilled it on myself, but not one drop of coffee on her. I had to sit in a soaking wet chair with shorts drenched in coffee until we reached our pastor’s home in SunRiver. It was so uncomfortable. 

Not long after the great waterfall of coffee Ellise started to act weird. She was squirming around in her seat directly next to mine. After a few minutes I asked her what was wrong and she told me, “Ummm, I might need to use the bathroom.” What, I was covered in coffee that she spilled on me and now she had to use the restroom? Worst car trip ever. 

After what felt like hours, we finally reached our destination. Ellise rushed out of the car and ran towards the bathroom as I hurried for the truck that had my bag in it with clean shorts. We had gotten through our misery and were over our frustration. Today, Ellise and I can look back at that day and laugh so hard. Great discomfort gave us a connection that I am so thankful for today. 

There are two lessons I learn from that day. One is to think things through before doing them. If Ellise would have observed the situation she would have seen that pouring liquid into a small container in a moving vehicle was not smart. Always access the situation. The second lesson I learned from this event was to use situations like this to make friends. I had known Ellise for about two years at that time but not personally. We used that event to get to know each other better and now she is a great friend of mine. In conclusion, unexpected things can occur. Access those moments so that you can make good decisions and hopefully close friends.