life as i know it

"...everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." -Sylvia Plath

Monday, January 09, 2006

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.

3 Comments:

At 8:36 PM, Blogger Sky said...

You can imagine how I feel when I am with Ann. Ours is a friendship which began when I was 12-13. I remember leaving her notes addressed to "Annie Oakley" in the desk I claimed as mine in English class. She sat in this desk the next period while I was off learning Latin. She is part of my history. I was there when both of her parents died, when her heart was broken, when she needed help with a paper on evolution, and when she married a friend from our childhood. She was there when I was worried about my mother, wanting recipes for a dinner party, needing a childhood retreat away from the pain, and falling in love with the man I would later marry. We have a lifetime of memories. Our love is the essence of "family." It is a celebration each time we meet. No matter how long the passage of time, our hearts sing the same tune, laughter dances across the room, and we are at once both young girls and women. I am glad you have an Ann. What a treat!

 
At 7:59 AM, Blogger Tammy Brierly said...

"Kind words are the music of the world. They have power that seems to be beyond natural causes, as if they were some angel's song that had lost its way and come on earth."
Frederick William Faber

I am happy you have such a friend!

 
At 5:55 PM, Blogger georgiacoast said...

You can't put a value on friendships that last the test of time. Even if you don't speak everyday or even every year, having a strong bond with someone that you know you could lean on is so comforting. I'm glad you found those letters, and you were reminded of your old friends. Hopefully, some comfort came out of the realization that they most certainly look back and have the same feelings about you and the friendship you provided them.

 

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