Pinkey Swear

After 2 decades of life, I am not convinced that I really need to always act my age. In fact, I believe I act my age by acting however I feel because that's me and, well, that's what you get--take it or leave it. I'm just saying, I think pinkey promises are totally valid ad binding agreements between two persons.

Whenever I have to say 'goodbye' to a good friend for a long while, I make them promise--pinkey promise--that this 'goodbye' isn't goodbye. Sure, I have an abandonment issue. But maybe this promise also makes the light of intentionality flip on. If I promise and if s/he promises then that gives it a greater chance of actually happening, right? I don't know, but here's to hoping.

Before I go and write on my other blog about friend issues, I just want to point out that these pinkey promise moments lead to moments in which friends are sweetly reunited. Hugs with a good friend after far too long apart make the tears at goodbye worth it.

In April, I was BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE with these moments. One of my best friends from working at camp two summers ago got married on April 14th and there was a whole lot of lovin' going on there. At SpringHill we did this really awkward thing at stafff meetings called "SpringHill lovin'" and we would stand up and spend three minutes walking around the auditorium hugging everyone we could. Some hugs meant something because they were from a friend and some were just a little weird coming from someone you had never met, but the point was that we all need a whole lot of lovin' and we are all capable of giving love to one another, it doesn't matter who we know and don't know--not that close relationships aren't important.  So anyway, there were lots of hugs at Susie and Mike's wedding. The three big ones came from Susie, Emily, and Jill--all three I hadn't seen in MONTHS. I didn't get to spend much time with them but the little time we got, the words we shared, and the love we gave will hold us together until the next time we meet.

Two weeks later, the same Emily came to St. Louis for work and stayed with yours truly for a few days. We hadn't seen each other since Christmas 2010 before Susie's wedding and now we got to spend time together twice in one month. AWESOME! We had good talks and good sleeps and good eats and it was like she was a friend who lives just up the street not over a thousand miles away in Boston. It felt totally normal and natural and made me wish it could happen more often.

Until we meet again, I pinkey swear to never forget you.