THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 8, 1995 TAG: 9509070041
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: TEENOLOGY
SOURCE: BY STEPHANIE STEVENSON, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
I SPENT THIS SUMMER, like many before it, traveling between my family's home here in Chesapeake and our cottage in Bull Bay, a small, rural community on the Albemarle Sound in Tyrrell County, N.C.
These are two very different places. Because I have always lived in the rapidly growing area of Chesapeake, I am used to everything being within a 15-mile radius of my home. Not at Bull Bay. Most of the favorite teen hangouts, like the mall and the movies, are in Nags Head, more than an hour away.
To most teens in South Hampton Roads, that would be a big problem, but being in Bull Bay, so far from the action, didn't really dampen our days - we just got creative. And the more creative and different the activity, the more fun.
Take for instance the time that my best friend, Brandy Basnight (who goes to school in Manteo, N.C.), and I decided to walk to the beach through a path in the woods. This was a normal activity that we took much satisfaction in, but this time was different because of a little game that our other friends had decided to play - hide-and-seek via dirt bikes and three- and four-wheelers. Talk about fun.
``Honda hide-and-seek'' was one of our most popular pastimes, but jet-ski riding was just as fun. Unlike the Chesapeake area, most of the homes and cottages in the Bull Bay area are on the water, therefore most of the residents own jet skis. My friends and I were either chasing each other around on our jet skis or out diving and swimming in the deepest part of the bay for hours at a time.
By spending time in a close-knit community, I developed many friendships and have learned more about myself.
One of the ways these friendships were built and strengthened was by the many sleep-overs Brandy and I had at each other's houses during the summer. At these sleep-overs we did the usual - talked about guys, our past school years, went through each other's yearbooks and told each other our deepest secrets.
The fireside chats while eating s'mores and the lazy days just lying in the hammock watching the boys be boys added a warmth to the close relationships that were strengthened during these past few months.
All of us were from different kinds of places, so we all had different ideas about having fun.
But I learned a very important lesson this summer. It is not where you are or what there is to do. What truly matters are the people that you surround yourself with. ILLUSTRATION: Stephanie Stephenson is a senior at Deep Creek High.
by CNB