on friendship

I am incredibly blessed. That sentence was going to continue, but really, that is just it. I am incredibly blessed. I have the most amazing group of family and friends as rockstar cheerleaders, I just don't know how other people survive with anything less (this is not to dimish other families and other friends - I'm sure they're all great too...)

And the thing about it is, that I have such amazing friends, who have incredible hopes and ambitions, and this (combined with my nomadic dreaming) means that we get to treasure a beautiful friendship together for a period of time that is always way too short, and then they go off to change the world, expand thier brains, challenge thier hearts, and experience new things. That is when our friendship goes into the long distance phase of long phone calls, letters, messages, emails, and really powerful thoughts that bind us together across the miles, albeit less tangibly and less time-intensive than before. But the love that was there, it stays. And it is beautiful.

Last week I had to say goodbye to a dear friend and kindrid spirit here in Germany. No more coffee dates where we really really meant to be super productive but talked for three hours instead. No more panicked phone calls: "I'm throwing up, can you cover my class for me?" No more lesson-planning teamwork, discussing how crazy Germans are, planning scavenger-hunts for a joint session of our classes. No more late night philosophizing. But I can say that I am beyond privigiled to know this incredible woman, and I could not be happier for her next step - it's the right one. I just wish it didn't mean leaving "Germ"* *one of many classic Emily-isms

Also last week, I had the privilige of being the very first to congratulate in person my dear friends Abbey and Greg on their engagement. Not only that, I got to show them my home here for three wonderful days. They were just as taken with Heidelberg as I am (take that, Rick Steves!). We wandered the Schwetzinger Gardens, climbed the Heiligenberg at dusk (and hiked back down amidst fireflies in the dark - ok, maybe that is making it sound more romantic and a lot less scary than it actually was...I like that version better) but mostly we just loved each other. Abbey is a kindrid spirit, a bosom friend if you will (Diana to my Anne, - or maybe I'm Diana to her Anne) Anyway, it did my soul a whole lot of good to share my life here with them and to have a communion of hearts.

My cup runneth over. ~love~