The Origins of the Bottle Cap Competition

So, as I entered high school as a freshman, one of my personal goals for the next 4 years was to seek out volunteer work. It was something I’ve wanted to do for awhile at that point but never got around to doing, besides a few times where I helped out in my middle school's Fall Festival by managing a photo booth, but that was really it. I wanted to do things outside of school, things like help around animal shelters, plant trees, that sort of lot. Although I had this drive to pursue volunteering opportunities, I was hesitant to actually begin, as I’ve always had this overwhelming sense of anxiety when starting new things, but that’s another story. I kept putting it off for my first two years of high school, until finally taking the initiative by joining an on-campus club called Interact.

This club was run by a few friends of mine including my best friend Cydney Gaither. We’ve been close friends since meeting each other in freshmen Brave Academy and one thing that a lot of our friends know is that the two of us are super competitive, always eager to prove the other wrong. So in Interact, our first volunteer opportunity was a cleanup of Huntington Beach. At first, I wasn't going to be able to go because I couldn't drive and both my parents worked, but I was able to ride with Cydney and her mother who were kind enough to pick me up.

On the car ride there, between the Hamilton concert and window watching, we made up our initial challenge for the day which was, “who can pick up the most trash,” It didn’t take long though before we had a new target, more specific than general beach garbage. Right out of the gate, there wasn’t much trash to be found, which is probably a good thing for a beach. Because of this scarcity, we would literally dive for anything that we could. It was a true free-for-all. In the midst of this war, we noticed one specific item was being found in abundance, which were bottle caps. Cydney was the first to pick up on this, she started calling out, “Oh look, a bottle cap!” every time she’d pick one out of the sand. Naturally, it became an objective, neither of us had to say it out loud, but we both knew it. From then on, we announced every time we found a bottle cap.

Unfortunately at the end of the cleanup, the people who managed the whole cleanup took our bags and we were unable to prove who had more trash, to this day we still debate over who won. Though we never officially knew, I know for certain it was me. We each held both of the bags at one point while on the way to turn them in and I promise you mine was slightly heavier, though it was really close, I’ll give her that. Even when she held both bags she didn't comment on who had more, she knew I had won.

After the beach clean-up, and lunch at this really good pizza place, debate went on over who won. None of us willing to back down, we thought of ways to settle this dispute in our own way. Nope, we didn’t compromise like adults, we instead agreed to collect bottle caps. Yes, you heard right, we are collecting bottle caps. At first, we didn’t know exactly how long we'd go on to determine the winner, until later she suggested the day before graduation. We established that the winner would get a be the official winner of the beach cleanup, owner of bragging rights, and of course, the Bottle Cap Champion.

Fast forward nearly a year, and we still continue to pick up bottle caps from wherever we go. It was inevitable for our friends to get involved into the battle, many having chosen sides, giving us anywhere between a couple to an entire baggy full of bottle caps, while others remain neutral liaisons. They had also given us the idea of the winner getting a custom pin that signified the winner of the competition. I had even asked both my English class and my fourth period class for their help, Mr. McBride being the same teacher for both and . In there, I planted a cup on his desk, still there today, and I still periodically go in to collect what people have donated to “Team Ethan” as McBride calls it.

Anytime I tell people that I’m in the process of collecting bottle caps in a high stakes battle for bragging rights lasting up until the day before graduation, they look at me like I just told them that I’m in the process of collecting bottle caps in a high stakes battle for bragging rights lasting up until graduation. It's not something many people accept without questioning, often people ask us, “Who’s winning? How many do you have?" and to answer those questions, neither of us truly know. Another big question that comes up is, “Why do you do this?” or “What’s really the point?” And I have asked myself this at least once after this competition really started to heat up, looking for a deeper meaning beyond a simple, cheesy answer such as “Friendshipppp,” but, it essentially is so in a nutshell.

The deeper answer is, the only people who can truly understand is the two of us, that's what makes it special. I can tell you, "Yeah! bragging rights," and that "It's an aspect of our friendship!" and accept it for what it is, but you don't get the whole picture as I see it, the memories of racing through the warm sand on the beach, the feeling of snatching a bottle cap from the sidewalk before the other, or the blatant disbelief on the other's face as you show them a gallon freezer bag filled to the brim (shout-out to Jaden I-forget-her-last-name). It's all the little things, but the little things aren't just little things. And once this whole shebang is finished, there will be another game that we start, maybe it will be something really small-like or something even bigger than the Bottle Cap Championship, I really couldn't tell you. Because the inception of this whole competition, as well as almost every other aspect of our friendship past and present, continues to prove itself a product of in the moment spontaneity. Keeps things unpredictable, I wouldn't have it any other way.

#bottlecaps