The Video Diaries

Back Together Again

When you think about it, ten years is a lot of time. It's a whole decade in your life filled with change. As I sat in the chair I had sat on many times before, it was hard for me to believe that ten years had really gone by. Where did all that time go? Just by looking at the two people on the couch next to me, I knew right away that so much had changed. They had grown up.

Ash having traded the blue jacket and green gloves for a red hoodie and khaki shorts. His once unruly black hair that he always kept under a cap had been cut shorter, no longer sticking out on the sides, the ends reaching his ears and his bangs falling to the side. It now looked more wavy than spiky. Sitting on top, facing backward, was yet another cap, this one tan color. The electric mouse that had been by his side since day one showed signs of aging itself, little strands of gray fur now mixed in with its yellow ones.

Next to him was a much older Misty who, instead of her yellow tank top, red suspenders, and short shorts combo, now sported an orange tank top with ruffles on the bottom and white shorts. For Misty, this was quite girly looking. Her still fiery, red hair was much longer now, falling in layers to just above her elbow. On her feet, she wore some familiar red shoes, showing that 10-year old Misty was still in there somewhere.

Since it had been so long since we had seen each other, when Ash and Misty first arrived, there had been a moment of silence as they both observed the changes in the other. Ash, finally noticing girls in a new light, gawked at Misty, his mouth hanging open like a Magikarp. Even Misty herself was quiet for once, her eyes widening at the changes she saw in her once immature traveling companion. It was me who had to snap them out of their trances, both of them blushing at the realization of what they had been doing.

It wasn't just their looks that had changed, but also their personalities, accomplishments, and career choices. As we filed into Ash's family room, I couldn't help but wonder if, when this was all over, I would even be able to recognize my two best friends. We didn't take time to catch up, quickly heading to watch the DVDs. We would have the whole night to catch up.

"Who wants to go first?" Asha and Misty sat on the couch, blank stares on their face. I could tell they were both nervous about whatever was on their DVD, or maybe, it was nerves from what might be on the other's DVD.  Had this been seven years ago, a fight would have broken out over who got to go first, as they shoved and pushed each other out of the way. Neither one of them moved, instead eyeing each other. "If you two can't decide then we'll have to pull names out of a hat."

"How about you go first?" Misty suggested, finally turning her eyes away from Ash to look at me. "This was your idea after all."

I guess she was right. It had been my idea to make these DVDs ten years ago. When we had started traveling together as a group, I suggested that they each obtain a video camera and film whatever they wanted about our travels so that when we were all twenty we could reunite and watch them.

At first, they had thought the idea was dumb, Misty claiming that once Ash gave her a bike she would be gone, while Ash claimed he just didn't have the time. Since I had been the only one with a camera, I had decided to videotape stuff anyway. After a while, they started asking to borrow my video camera, ultimately ending up fighting over it. That's when I suggested to Misty's sisters and Ash's mom that maybe that would be a good Christmas gift for them.

When we had found out that our group would be torn apart, we made a list of questions that each person would have to film themselves answering. And on the night before Misty, Ash and I parted ways, that's what we each went off to a separate room to do. As part of our video agreement, we would include this Q&A into the final video diary we created. Since it was most likely that our journey together was ending there, we decided that if they wanted, one could film their adventures, but they didn't have to. This diary was meant to capture our adventures.

Having reached the date we agreed on years ago, I had called Ash and Misty to schedule a day when we would all meet at Ash's house and watch the videos we had created. To allow for everyone to make the videos-or find the video camera in Ash's case-we agreed that we would meet at Ash's house one week later. Since we had collected more footage than we needed over the years, we had agreed to shorten them to three things: Three favorite memories, two funny clips, and the Q&A we had filmed before we went our separate ways.

Since I knew that neither of them would be volunteering anytime soon, I walked over to the T.V. and placed my DVD into the player. I returned to my seat as the video started to play, watching as it went from a black screen with lines to the title screen I had created that had a song playing in the background. As the song faded away, it was replaced with a scene of our campsite.