You've Got Mail

After a long day and a late night in San Francisco I had to get to Carmel Valley the next afternoon and the LA that night. I was meeting up with Cassie Hansen. Cass and I didn’t go to grade school together, we didn’t go to high school or college together, and I didn’t meet her out to dinner in the city or even on a trip outside the country. But I have known her for the last four years. How? Well four years ago when I was a sophomore in college I went on “Myspace” and received a message from a really cute girl, who said she enjoyed one of the videos I posted and thought we had a lot in common after pursuing my profile. I messaged her back half expecting a response thinking it was spam or something because she truly is a natural beauty. It turned out that she was real and we began to message back and forth for a while first on Myspace, then as our messages got longer we moved to Email, and now we exchange phone calls text messages and a webcam with her roommates. Cassie knows more about me then many of the people I see every day. It’s interesting how easy it is to open up to someone that you’ve never met, all it really took for us was a common ground. Same taste in music, meeting new people, and having a good time. So needless to say I was certainly interested in meeting my Pen Pal in person.

First impression in person was….hmmmm the pictures didn’t do her justice. After speaking with her and getting a tour of her crib it was easy to see she was really down to earth, a chill female and exactly the person I had gotten to know in our correspondence. She took me on the super exclusive Camel/Carmel Valley tour and with one of the towns greatest tour guides (according to her I haven’t had the time to check that out myself) She took me to the beach she runs at everyday and I even got to her Hula a little which was cool. She showed me the really expensive houses, pebble beach, the mission the town was built around, and Monterey where John Steinbecks book Cannery Row is based. Again and again she told me interesting facts and stories about her town.

What impressed me most about Cass is her love for her home and what’s around it. She takes pride in the roots she has there in Carmel because of who it’s made her. From start to finish she conveyed such a love and interest in her surroundings. I don’t know many people like that. Even myself I don’t know much about where I’m from and there isn’t even that much to know. I know people in New York City who haven’t been to the Statue of Liberty or Empire State building. They live in the biggest city in the world and take it for granted, she appreciates all that’s around her I think it shows the type of person she is.

After Monterey we had to get her back because she needed to get ready for a Hula Show she had that night. Quickly though, we went to get some real Cali Mexican food (on our way there she almost killed me in the car and I saw my life flash before my eyes it was short). Cali Mexican food I hear it’s second only to Mexico, I was a little skeptical with Taco Bell being so tasty but she was right it was great. It was a HUGE burrito but awesome. She had to get to her show and I needed to get back on the road and make it Los Angeles before it got too late and too dark. It was great finally meeting Cass and I hope to again someday, I’ll be driving though!

(Cassie Hula)

One Mile at A Time