Coco is one of my best friends in the world. She lives a little over a mile away and I haven’t seen her since right around when I picked her up from the airport after Christmas break. I am not even kidding. She’s in her final semester of grad school, she’s been busy falling in love and causing hell with her roommate. I’ve been drowning in the busiest semester of my life. I don’t love her any less, I miss her like crazy and I am so thankful for her.
I met her the first time in a car in Waco, Texas. Later she came to Berlin, where I begged her to move in with me. She did. It was wonderful. Then she moved back to Chicago and applied for grad school. I struggled in Berlin. She got into BC and then I moved to Boston. Life could not have been more generous to me. Coco did all the hard work to find a church, we followed her there. She goes every week, we go when I am not panicked about homework, housework, or just work. She was incredible when I was engaged. She is amazing when I cry. She was resilient hobbling through an unjustly broken foot. She was patient letting me help her around.
(This one is for Maria who is in town, undoubtedly making Coco’s birthday magical)
Courtney is one of the most beautiful friends I have ever had. She is honest. Real. Loyal. Patient. Kind. Funny. Brave. She has been a safe place for me in some of the most dark moments of my life and a beautiful reflection of love in both the dark valleys and high moments. I honestly feel like being able to live in the same city with her three times in my life was more than providence, it was Providential. It was more than what I needed, it was beyond what I could have asked for. I have to say that in moments it felt like it was a lifesaver.
She has conquered grad school and teaching. She has fallen in love with someone that I have never met, but have every confidence in. Her standards are high, mostly for herself and I wish I was more like her in that manner. Today, I celebrate one of the greatest gifts of friendship I have and I pray that as this dreary rain falls heavy on Boston she is feeling loved, cared for, appreciated, enjoyed, warm and ebullient. I have no doubt that Nick and Maria are looking carefully to it.
Also, if you’re in the Boston area and you need an English professor, I know a really great one who is looking for a job…
Trivialities 