:: Bittersweet Symphony
I promised a time — long past — ago that I'd share the story of my adventure in Atlanta, Georgia on the day of or that week of my closest and still very best friend, Alonda's birthday. Needless to say, I did not fulfill that promise. So, now, I'll share the story.
It was there, in Atlanta, Georgia, in which I happened to be in the right place at the right time to meet up with two beautiful souls in my life, Emma and Alonda. Emma, a dear, dear, dear friend from my love-hate days at Cornell University, is simply a wonderful person. A foodie with the biggest heart and best conversation, Emma is one of many individuals from my time at Cornell that I miss deeply. So, it was simply a joy to see her again after nearly two years of only remaining in contact via snail mail and the occasional text and Facebook message updates. Stealing time away from my friends that I traveled to Atlanta with (in celebration of my best friend of a decade, Brittany's 26th birthday) we ate and talked and relished the time we could share together. From there, with the awesomeness that is just Emma, she kindly drove me to meet up with Alonda. Alonda, aka Lizzie, but I've always simply called her Alonda, is and has been one of my closest and best friends for well over decade. The sweetest, kindest, most hilarious and entertaining person I know to this very day, Alonda is like no other friend in my life because we bonded over more than just your typical school things. We bonded in hardship — which in turn grew and nourished our friendship. That very friendship, our friendship, dates back to the seventh grade (Riverdale Middle School). Our bond as best friends were rooted in a mere two years (our 7th and 8th grade years of Riverdale Middle School) and maintained over a decade via sporadic texts, occasional phone calls, periodic emails and snail mail, Facebook and more recently Instagram. For some divine reason, God kept us in each other's lives even despite it all. Having both gone through very difficult and trying ordeals in our lives since our innocent, all-fun-and-games-days at Riverdale Middle School, we maintain our friendship and love for each other over distance, and… well… time. Speaking of which, I can honestly say that our friendship is truly a friendship that has stood the test of time and, of course, circumstances. So, you can imagine, with all that said and done, when we finally got the chance to finally meet each other after so many years, it was emotional.
Sparing all the nitty gritty details, we shed some tears, smiled till it hurt and hugged till we realized we were meeting on borrowed time and we had to make the most of it. Grabbing a proper lunch with both Emma and Alonda (and yes, Emma was there to witness firsthand the emotional meeting between Alonda and myself), we laughed, filled each other in on the newer struggles of being an adult and adult-ing, and laughed some more, pushing tears away until we had to finally say our “see you later(s).” New bonds and old bonds were nourished. Life was good. So, very good. In that very moment. So. Very. GOOD. I wouldn't have traded one second of it for any other moment. As the highlight of my 2015 year, I promised to both of them that we will not go so long before we are able to cross paths again. That is one promise I intend to keep. And until then, as before, our memories will blanket our minds in the immense happy-ness that was infused in those very special hours.
Though, I could go on and share much more, I'll, like before, spare all the mushy details and keep this entry short and sweet and as to the point as I can possibly allow — as we all know I can get a bit long-winded and beat-around-the-bush-ish. Simply know that my trip to Atlanta was defined by this very moment. I truly was lifted. Or in the more common and colloquial words of Drake, "I was WAY up! I felt BLESSED!"
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:: Post Rationalizing(s)
"There are a few great souls in my life. They are not many. They are few. You are one."
― Anne Sexton ―
