Diet Coke With A Splash Of Cherry

"And who is ever going to know how I like my fountain drinks?!? No one is ever going to bring me a Diet Coke with a splash of cherry ever again!"

I cried.

I sobbed.

I wept.

I was holding on to a baseball fence in the middle of the Boston Common while it was pouring down rain.

I was a senior in college.

I was about to graduate.

I was about to leave all of my friends.

I was about to move away from the town I had made my home for the last four years.

I was about to live in a new city.

I was about to start a new job.

I was about to start a new life.

And I was worried about the quality of my fountain drinks.

This may sound ridiculous. This may sound overdramatic. But to those that know me well, they know the way to my heart is not through flowers,

It's not through chocolates.

It's not through words of affirmation.

It's through Diet Coke. Preferably in a form of a Big Gulp.

And although this weeping statement may sound trivial to some, it really was filled with my deepest fears about leaving Emerson College, leaving my friends, leaving the home I had created.

Who will get to me so well that they know how I like my favorite thing, without even having to ask?

It's in our nature that we as humans like to be known.

We want someone to know our likes, our dislikes, our fears, our dreams, our favorite food, our favorite beverage.

We want to know that someone in this world is thinking about us.

We want to know that we are special.

And loved.

And cared for.

And thought about.

And known.

And when we're faced with the reality that we're going to be in a place where nobody knows us in that way, the panic ridden, fence clinging sobbing ensues.

And not the pretty face sobbing- the ugly face sobbing.

I wish that night that someone would have grabbed me, pulled me off the fence, looked me dead in the eye and told me the truth.

Katie, wherever you go, you will be known.

Katie, you have a God that knows you intimately and personally.

Katie you have a God that promises "Indeed, the very hairs on your head is numbered" (Luke 12: 7)

Katie you have a God that "knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb" (Jeremiah 1:5)

Katie you have a God that knows not only how you like your fountain drink, but knows the exact Diet Coke to splash of Cherry Coke ratio that will make it the best fountain drink you've ever tasted.

Katie you are special.

Katie you are loved.

Katie you are cared for.

Katie you are thought about.

Katie, you are known.

And you, my dear friends, are known by that same amazing God.