Designing Independence

This is a story about three girls and their friendship with each other, at a time when they made the decision to step out into the world and become independent adults and responsible for themselves. Christi and Elisa have been best friends since they were nine and ten years old. Christi is the oldest, and has just finished her first year of college, and Elisa has just graduated from high school. They had not seen each other in a number of months because of Christi being away at college. This has been the longest period of time that the girls have ever been apart since they have been friends. Every year as soon as school was out for the summer they would head for the beach house on Mexico Beach, in Florida. Elisa's mom owns a number of condos on different beaches that she leases out, but this beach house on Mexico Beach was the one where the girls always stay. The girls love being at the beach and really enjoy the water and water sports. Both of the girls were very athletic, but were never involved in school sports. They both had their own personal interests, and enjoyed being together.