Last night I stayed awake until 3:30 a.m., which is the latest I’ve ever stayed up. No, it wasn’t to finish this assignment or write my college application. It was to play beach volleyball on the last night of summer camp, where I had made some of my closest friends in life (so close that I cried today as I boarded my flight and left them behind). 

At 11:30 p.m. last night, my dorm mates and I wrapped up our last gathering, a meeting filled with solemn goodbyes and nostalgic reflection on the past few weeks. I headed back to my room, head hanging and shoulders drooped, turning to shut my door one last time. Then, a faint walkie-talkie signal changed everything. 

Over my resident counselor’s walkie-talkie, we heard about a “big” volleyball game on the other side of campus. Exhausted from a long day of class and presentations, my friends and I agreed to briefly check out the action. When we arrived, there were only three people, likely college students, much smaller than the advertised event. I don’t blame them, as it was well past midnight on a Tuesday night, and they just wanted people to join. Planning to spend just a few last minutes with my friends, I threw my socks off and stepped foot on the unusually cold sand, but that quickly turned into a three hour marathon of laughter, sweat, and bonding.

Our “game” wasn’t pretty. We were no match for our opponents, and our lack of experience couldn’t have been clearer. I dove hopelessly after balls and emerged with mouthfuls of sand, but as my friends did the same, we bonded over our struggles. We laughed, barked commands, and playfully teased each other when someone hit the ball backwards or out of bounds. But, we also celebrated as one of us miraculously kicked the ball over the net or kept the rally alive with a heroic dive. Along the way, we broke out our dance moves in between plays to the rhythm of classic 2000s pop songs blasting from the bluetooth speaker. We told each other unforgettable childhood memories and bonded even further over our favorite memories from camp, even joking about going whitewater rafting after our game. At the end of each game, we always agreed on “just one more game,” but that always changed as the excitement, laughter, and team-building drew us back. Three hours later when 3 a.m. hit, we finally agreed to call it a night. 

Though I had to wake up early to catch my 6:30 a.m. flight, I have no regrets about getting only an hour of sleep that night. Looking back, I won’t remember the times when I won an award or achieved an “A” on a challenging math exam, but I will never forget the unexpected moments where I connected with others in the strangest places at the strangest times. There’s something inexplicable about these once-in-a-lifetime situations, perhaps their randomness or infrequency, that just encourages friendship and connection on a whole deeper level. Soon, I’ll forget much of my past, but I’ll always savor the unique and arbitrary moments, like playing beach volleyball at 3 a.m., because they created unforgettable joy and heartfelt bonding that can’t be found anywhere else.