54. Sarah Hunter

In 1982 Sarah and I got a great idea. We would go on a summer road trip! The school year was ending and we were ready for an adventure.

I was 17 and Sarah was 16. Sarah had only recently gotten her driver’s license, but that didn’t slow us down.

We asked our parents if we could borrow a car for a week and go on a road trip.

To their ever-lasting credit our four adorable parents said ummmmm, wellllll, let’s talk about it.

So the 6 of us talked about it and we came to these agreements:

-We could borrow the yellow VW bug

-I would have to teach Sarah how to drive stick shift before we left

-Sarah and I would map out an itinerary ahead of time

-We would stay with someone we knew each night

-And we would call home each day when we arrived at the new location.

OMG! No Problem! Let the planning begin!

Sarah had an Aunt and Uncle in upstate New York, I had an Aunt and Uncle in Virginia, Dad had a college roommate in Pennsylvania, we both had a school friend in Maryland, and so on. We pieced it together and called them all up, and nailed down our itinerary.

A one-week 1,800 mile road trip.

Think about this for a moment. No GPS, No cell phones. And Sarah had only driven a stick shift a few times in the Baskin Robbins parking lot. And we were teenagers.

Yep, we are good to go!

So we gathered our maps and our suitcases and our hopes and dreams and set off on the open road. Is there anything better than a road trip?

Sarah was my best friend in high school. Our backyards connected through a split in the fence for easy access. We met when I was 15 and new to the neighborhood, and we became fast friends.

We went to high school together, worked at Baskin Robbins together, jogged at night together, and spent millions of hours together in between.

I was a year older, so when I left for college, Sarah packed me off with a letter to my future college roommate. Someone she knew nothing about. This letter told my roommate that Sarah was going to miss me, and she hoped my new roommate would look out for me.

This one act perfectly sums up Sarah Hunter.

Sweet, thoughtful, caring, generous, open-hearted,  and looking out for her friends.