I'm Kristen Elizabeth David :) I'm the shortest of the four and quite proud of it! And to let you in on another secret, I'm only half asian. Yes, I know, you're disappointed, but trust me, it's a lot easier to say that I'm "Asian". In reality, I am one-half Thai, one-fourth Jewish/Lebanese and one-fourth Scotch-Irish of French descent :)..... yes, I know. I'm studying choral music education and I love to sing, especially for the glory of the Almighty God that provides education, provisions and everlasting friendships with the three people that I love dearly in this blog.
To start off with, it is probably important to mention that Derek and I are both from Asheville, NC and attended the same high school. The story of our acquaintance is rather amusing for my Sophomore year my car-coveting eyes happened to be captured by a gorgeous blue Ford Mustang with white racing stripes and I instantly fell in love! I kept seeing it everywhere around town as well as in the Junior parking lot at the high school! I hadn't a clue who drove the darn thing, but at this point it didn't matter: That was one amazing vehicle. Then one night while on stage crew for our school's Advanced Ensemble, I happen to see that beautiful painted stallion pull into the parking lot and out came this tall, dark and handsome Italian fella preparing for a choir production! Alas, after a short confession to falling in love with his car, as well as my admittance into the Advanced Ensemble the following year, our friendship took off and has been great ever since :)
And so, I began my first semester of college confident because of my relations and friendships with those who were older than I. During the summer, Derek had introduced me to his roommate, Will, who was also a music education major. The three of us were quickly becoming good friends as time unfolded. Derek and Will invited me to their church on Wednesdays and Sundays and I quickly discovered my church family and outlet for God and fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ. One night a few weeks into the semester, Derek informed me that one of his favorite bands, Mae, was coming to Greene Street Club for a concert and he invited me and Will to join him. However, all that day certain circumstances kept arising that repetitively changed my mind about going. At one point, the both of us had decided not to go until Derek realized that he loved the band too much to not jump at the opportunity. I realized that if he liked them so much then it must be worth seeing, so I made my final decision to go with the two of them. Boy, was I glad I did that.
On September 25th, 2009, Greene Street was pretty packed. There was so much cigarette smoke that it was difficult for me to breathe, but even though Will offered to step outside with me, I wanted to stay for the show. As I milled about with the two people that I felt amazingly safe with, I came across a friend of mine from the School of Music who happened to be one of Will's studio buddies. With him was a girl that I knew was also a music major because she was in one of our classes and I had seen her picture on one of the assignments we were given. She told me her name was Annaliese and we talked for a few brief minutes while it was relatively quiet and found out some coincidences such as we were both there at the concert with one of our best friends from high school. When the bands started back up with their playing, we were limited to texting each other as conversation so we enjoyed the rest of the night and the music.
After that night, the weeks went by and Annaliese began having lunch with me, Will and Derek because it happened that Derek and Annaliese were in the same English class, fancy that! Then one morning at breakfast while attempting to watch the musical "Wicked" on Annaliese's laptop, I invited her to the "small group" Bible study that Derek and I were a part of at the church and she eagerly came with me. Some miscellaneous stories were shared during small group, and after sobbing over my brother's car accident a few years back (oh, I cry over everything if something moves me to do so) Derek (as one of the leaders) directed the topic towards abortion and how some women would do anything for a child they didn't have.
Annaliese had barely said anything during the entire discussion, so when we got back to campus, I asked her what she thought of the discussion and it was then that she explained to me about PCOS and why she had been so silent. I was... surprised and amazed, you could say. I was so surprised that someone could have lived through what she has already lived through and be so happy at the time. It made me admire her for her strength. I definitely would have fallen apart if something like that had happened to me. Annaliese kept mentioning how she had only told this information to a handful of people, and yet she seemed so trusting that it was hard to believe at first. Regardless, I was happy to be there and listening. And no, I didn't once think that she was pulling a pity card or anything to get me to like her. I realized that God had given me a friend that I knew would be there for me and I for her. I even found myself telling her about the issues that were troubling me such as the difficulties that Derek and I were going through in our friendship.
Then one poor child walked up with a broken bicycle chain... :) Nate was just as easy to make friends with. His charisma and charm drew me in so much that it was hard not to like him. As the three of us talked that faithful night in the parlor, I slowly began to realize that God was piecing together a wonderful friendship with people who were amazingly rock-solid in their faith and beliefs; something that I had been searching for because I had begun to waver. After finally convincing Derek that he wasn't ever "intruding" in on our bonding and that we wanted him to be with us more often, God began to seal the seams of our friendships into an incredibly crazy and dysfunctional family.
As a permanent minority throughout my life- Asian, left-handed, Yankee, short, etc. I feel like I finally have a place where I fit in: among the music, smiles, and laughter of two Germans and an Italian. God has certainly picked an amazing place for me <3
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