loving inscriptions

Over the Christmas break, I helped my sister rummage through my parents’ attic and find things to take to GoodWill. In the process of our excavation, I found an old shoebox labeled “sentimental stuff”. The box was old and tattered, the edges barely holding together the foundation for the various remnants of my childhood. Due to the chaos of the holidays, I didn’t explore the box’s contents at the time and only began to peruse the ancient letters and pictures in these past few days. Amidst old birthday cards from my grandparents and pictures from music camp, I came across a pile of letters from my days in junior high school. From the tender age of twelve years old, these letters were filled with words of love and commitment. The words held promises of eternal friendships and bonds that would persist throughout a lifetime. It was a strange feeling that overcame me as I read these letters. Between the laughter at our naïve worldviews, I found myself taken back to a time of disillusioned innocence. The messages of heartfelt love were endearing, but I found the experience bittersweet. The years have taken their toll on my memory and I realized that most of my correspondents have long since been forgotten. Life has taken us down various paths, and most of us have had no contact for many long years. I know a little about some of their lives now, but my only knowledge comes from the newspaper clippings of weddings and births that my mother has mailed me over the years. Many of those young girlfriends are living lives far separated from my own. Like myself, I am sure that many of them have forgotten our bonds of childhood as well.

However, there was one stack of letters and one set of pictures that overwhelmed me with feelings of comfort. Snapshots of two pre-adolescent girls, their arms around one another and knowing smiles beaming from their young faces. Vows to never forget the power of our friendship and the promises that we would never be alone. To this day, we have not forgotten and we are not alone. These letters reminded me that the promise of childhood friendships is not always naïve or disillusioned. As I read the letters that my dear friend wrote to me thirteen years ago, I realized that her words to me then were not so different from the words we exchange now. Loving inscriptions sealed our correspondence in 1992. Loving inscriptions continue to seal our correspondence in 2006.

Amidst the many people who come into our lives, only a few remain forever. Time passes and new life experiences gradually cause the fading away of our histories. But those who touch our hearts the deepest leave a lasting imprint that neither time nor life may conquer.