The Great White Buffalo

"its like the international sex and the city"

In the movie Hot Tub Time Machine, four middle-aged guys go back to the ski resort where they had one of the best trips of their young lives and they continuously mention, in a whisper, the illusive Great White Buffalo. They never really explain what the Great White Buffalo refers to, but you just know that whatever it is, it was totally epic.

Many of my girlfriends and I speak this way of the summer of 2008. "Best Summer Ever" we'll say under our breaths. And it truly was. It's like all the stars aligned that summer, and a truly great group of people crossed paths for a season. The weather was absolutely perfect, we sat on the MCA lawn for Tuesdays on the Terrace every week as our spreads grew more and more elaborate (I'm pretty sure they enacted the "no outside food or drink" rule because of us--sorry), we had a beach volleyball team and our weekends consisted of us "staycationing" on North Avenue Beach. We hit up music festivals, Movies in the Park and First Fridays (we spent a lot of time at the MCA, that was also the summer of the giant Jeff Koons exhibit). Most of us ladies were unattached which led to some funny nicknames and memorable stories. Not to mention we all had Hope behind the campaign of a local candidate for president and for the end of a recession.

What started out as a very rough year for me blossomed into, well, the Best Summer Ever. And then towards the end I met my now fiance. An epic summer indeed.

We tried to recreate this magic the following summer, and summers after that, but we discovered that you just cant make lightening to strike twice.  You can't force the weather to cooperate with your plans, people couple up, move away, and now my girl Fuji is joining them, leaving the city to meet her man in Nebraska. I'm gonna miss you, Fuj!

Hey, none of us are saying we don't love our lives now, but the summer of '08 will always be our Great White Buffalo.