A Special Mention

So, a few days ago I did the A to Z survey and I had put in a link to the Kilipino, my BFF living in Paraguay. We've been friends since we were about 15, right before we had our driver's licenses. Dudes, we've been friends for ... uh ... wait for it ... THIRTEEN years. We've managed to stay friends through a lot of growing up, a lot of changes.

But anyway, for some reason, the link didn't publish, and I never looked at the published post. the other day I was looking for something else, and realized it never came through.

I felt terrible. And by that I mean, I totally panicked. I knew she'd been to the blog, read it, and probably secretly felt bad, but never mentioned it. I immediately texted her even though it was 4 in the morning or some crap where she is, explaining the technical error.

The next day I called as soon as I could, my heart racing.

I told her of the mistake, and my ensuing terrible feelings about it, and after she heard the panic in my voice, she laughed. I was still completely mortified so I reiterated approximately 500 times how it was a mistake and how I felt bad about it. And that I didn't forget her. And that she has a secure place among my family and close friends. Always. She laughed some more, the connection between us crackling, but never failing.

She's been away almost two years, and big, huge, life-changing events have happened to both of us in that time, but it hasn't seemed to matter in terms of our ability to stay close.

Even when she's 2,000 light years away, we laugh like hell together, she sends a get-well note to my recovering dad, and tears fill my eyes if I think too closely about how much I miss her.

I miss: long drives with the windows down and the heat on, music blasting, going to concerts and holding hands through the best songs, finding snacks, random acts of silliness, long talks (we have to be super efficient since it's expensive to call back and forth), cheap thrills, late night giggles, browsing at Cheapo Records, the simple act of spending time together (we're proud of our ability to hang out for hours on end without saying a word), irritating our siblings. I think I miss her hugs the most.

There are still so many things that we still enjoy together: sometimes we call each other just to laugh like crazy, talking be damned; we have managed to stay close despite our ten-minute conversations (we give the Micromachines man a run for his money, but panic when the operator tells us we have one minute remaining); we still shop (just now online) together; we send each other notes; we still daydream about the future. We sometimes still act like we're 16, against our better instincts.

I've said many times that I have had a Kilipino-shaped hole in my life since she left, but I've realized it isn't exactly true. I still have so much of her in my life, and I'm proud we've made it this far.

So that's the story about one of my BFFs. And maybe now you'll understand why I was so mortified to find out the link disappeared when it published. And why it was important for me to set the record straight. Both to her personally and to my online life.

More stories of awesome friends to come.