It was just a thought. A possibility. Something we’d talked about once, maybe texted about twice. Whatever, it definitely wasn’t going to happen. But before I knew it, I was sitting in a starbucks with my mom filling out my IC registration forms. The weeks leading up to IC consisted of countless countdowns, facetimes, and long rants about how excited we were to see each other. I met them on my BBYO Passport trip over the summer of 2022. Although it was a short two week trip, it was full of memories I made with them. So when I said goodbye to these new friends from all across the country, I was sure it would be the last time I could see them for years. Yeah sure, we mentioned meeting at IC, but it surely wasn’t going to happen, right? Little did I know, I would be seeing six of them seven months later. I anxiously waited for the plane to land and the bus to arrive, all that occupied my mind was seeing them. Five more hours, two more hours, half an hour, five minutes, I was so close. Then finally, as I stood in the extremely long check-in line, I got the text from my best friend living in Ohio. It read, “I see you in the line”, and before I knew it she had jumped over the ropes separating the lines and gave me a tight hug. We hugged for what felt like forever, but it wasn’t long enough because before I knew it, we were parting ways at 6:45 in the morning. Not only was I able to see my best friend from Ohio, but I saw my best friends living in North Carolina, Illinois and even New Jersey. It was a surreal experience to go through with this plan we came up with seven months prior. As sad as it was, my favorite moment was the night before we left. We stayed up until two in the morning, three hours before we had to wake up, but it was so worth it. We made sure to make the most of our last moments together before we parted ways. We watched Friends, ate late night pizza, and talked about our IC experiences. We laughed, sang songs, and made jokes that left us crying and laughing on the floor. IC was able to reconnect me and some of my best friends from across the country and it made it so much more special that I got to experience these new things and programs with them again. Hopefully I’ll see them in IC 2024. Maybe, but it might just be a possibility though.