Silver: a Meta Story

“Mom! I got my silver!” I exclaim ecstatically. “Good job, baby, I’m so proud of you.” My less than excited mother looks up from her phone and smiles at me. “I’m so happy,” I say with a huge smile on my face. “Awesome,” she says, clearly not understanding my enthusiasm.

I was standing in the wet grass, a pile of mud behind me and my friend Matt next to me. The frigid night air and the rampant mosquitos could not interrupt my contentedness. We watched by firelight as the new Anokijig nights received their bronze pins and took the oath of secrecy. Next up was the newly nominated silvers. Jim started calling out names as I told myself not to get my hopes up and that I probably wouldn’t get it. “Laurel Spaccarelli,” I heard him say. “Did I say that right?” he asks. “Yes actually,” I respond, talking through my grin. I walked up and received my silver arrowhead pin and went to stand in line with the other new silver knights. My stomach was buzzing with an unexpected amount of happiness and my head was spinning. Trying to explain how much it meant to me to someone just wouldn’t be possible.

“Dad guess what!” “What?” he asks. “I’m a silver knight now!” “Wooohooo!” he says courteously.

Jim started to call out the gold knights and I heard him say my two old and best friends names one after the other. My smile grew. When Jim was done reading the list of names he said, “congratulations and goodnight to all the new knights.” As we walked back to our sections through the muddy wooden trails the moon illuminated the night like a spotlight shining on us. We couldn’t help but skip back to our tents with indescribable lightness. Before we had to part ways, we embraced each other in a three way hug, our mutual excitement bonding us together. “I love you guys so much!” “I love you so much!” was said by all three of us. “Look how far we’ve come guys! Just look at us now!” I exclaimed. We squeezed and we squeezed until it seemed unreasonable, so we had to say our goodnights. Our excitement for ourselves and each other and the deep love that we felt in that moment made one of the best nights of my life unforgettable and unexplainable at the same time. 

“Do you wanna see it?” I ask my father. “Sure,” he says nicely. “This is it,” I say, and he looks at the un-astonishing pin. “Isn’t it beautiful?” I ask. “It’s great sweety. I’m happy for you.” “Me too,” I say as I turn away, “you have no idea how much.”