The Sweet Honey & the Inevitable Sting
My name is Lauren, but my homeowner, James, didn’t call me that. He wasn’t good with names, so he gave us all nicknames. He eventually landed on “Honey” because, as he liked to put it, “you’re sweet like honey, but you can sting like a bee.” At the time, I thought it was a silly joke for the week. But the more I think about it, the more I realize it’s the perfect description of ASP– the sweet moments of connection within your group and with your homeowner and the hard work that stings enough to leave a mark on your heart; that mix has been such a big part of my life for the past four years. It follows me everywhere, sometimes in the smallest, most ordinary moments.
I remember looking over West Virginia each morning, admiring the cloudy mountains and feeling so thankful to be where I was. The people I’ve met through this experience are the kind you can always count on when the bullets fly– the friends that’ll stand by you in the sweet, in the sting, and in the moments you’re calling out to the clouds for rain. But here’s the funny thing: I almost didn’t join ASP at all. I’ve always believed everything happens for a reason, and that’s definitely true for my ASP journey.
When my older brother came home from his first and only ASP trip, I promised myself I’d never go. Then, for whatever reason, something made me want to go to the information meeting. Listening to the experienced teens’ speeches, especially the anecdotes about ice cream trips, encouraged me to join. But honestly, I regretted it at first. The months leading up to my first trip, I dreaded the idea of being away from my friends, my family, and my phone– with complete strangers. My first night on that trip I cried myself to sleep thinking, “what did I get myself into?” But when it was time to come home after those 10 days, I dreaded that even more. I came back with stories, memories, and my first ASP friends, Charlotte and Maggie. The fact that I joined in the first place is something I’ll never truly understand, but I am forever thankful I dragged my parents to the information meeting and didn’t quit when it seemed easier to.
ASP has been one of the most important parts of my life these past four years. I would count down days to the next meeting, retreat, and the trip. These people have become some of my dearest friends, my second family. And now, there’s a part of me that still lives in the mountains. Many things that may seem mundane to others take me right back to those 10 summer days with my second family.
Certain names like George, Goldie, Ashley, Austin, Ian, Alexander, James, bring back faces and stories of the people I met in the mountains. Songs like “Our song,” “Revival,” and “Feathered Indians” take me right back, scream-singing the choruses. And of course, the worksite memories: ham and cheese sandwiches, perfecting siding, nailing trim, getting paint all over my clothes, and the many hours spent mudding that still haunt me, truly sweating bullets to get projects done. When I see the colors, blue, purple, orange, and teal, I remember wearing that color with pride during my trip. Up till now, there ain’t been nothing I couldn’t leave behind. Because ASP is full of moments that can’t be left behind, moments that’ll be with me forever, it’s there in the vans, the music, the people, the mountains, and all the moments that remind me, everything really does happen for a reason: the sweet honey and the inevitable sting.
-Written by Lauren Caporale
