The End of an Era - Fittingly at the Grocery Store

The time has finally come I think, for me to talk about being sad. I'm sad, about graduation. In all actuality, I'm not sad about graduation as much as I'm just sad about the people who aren't gonna be there anymore when I get up in the morning.

I'm satisfied with SA, and the way I'm gonna leave it. My Congress is now Erin Dimas' Congress - and they're in good hands. My desk is someone else's and that's cool. My team is now Jennifer Knaupp's team. They also, are in good hands. IJM is no longer in my hands, but [as it has been for about a semester] in the hands of Sarah Carlson and Andrea - and the Lord will bless the fruits of their labor, this I know for sure. But in whose hands will I be in?

Who's apartment am I gonna get ready for formal in - who will be with me when I am trying on the 12th dress of the evening - and furthermore, who will be on her 14th dress while I'm still complaining about my MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF HAIR? Melanie - what will I do without you? Who will coach soccer with me? Who will study with me at Java City? Who will help me make fun of the DNC? [Surely not anyone in California...]

Paul, who's gonna sing Karaoke with me? And who, furthermore, is gonna dress up like Nelly in order to do it? Who's gonna come over to my apartment in the middle of the night when I'm upset? Furthermore, who's gonna do it while I'm still on the phone? Surprise surprise, you are always there when I need you...

Joy - who's gonna teach me Tai?

__________________________

Tonight, Layne and I went to the grocery store to get groceries to cook together, one last time. Layne and I first had a serious conversation my freshman year, about his sister. There were a couple more about his sister my sophomore year, and some about The Artist Formerly Known as Boyfriend [Jeremy], and then of course, about dogs and turtles, shorts, grass lengths, and racism. I saw him cry that day in his office for the first time...not many time after or since has he cried...but I think I've known them all.

Our friendship began to deepen and our company we began to share with each other more frrequently. And as we did, we began to eat together. But not just eat, we began to eat in each other's homes. Layne would make chicken and veggies - I would make carne guisada with rice and beans, or chorizo con huevos with homemade tortillas and limeaide. We cooked some together, and he and Ryan loved the days I brought them homemade pies. And we talked and lauged and sang and watched TV and made messes...it continues.

When our new team was first formed for SA - we also began in the kitchen. Layne came over to my apartment at the end of last semester, and I cooked - and he helped. We broke bread together. Today, we did the same thing in his kitchen. They came, they ate, we talked, they left. He and I cleaned, talked, and then we realized: This was it. This was the end, the end of an era.

No more trips to the veggie section at the grocery store, no more late night talks. No more Jedi night or X-men mutant. No more meals together. No more shopping together at the mall, no more fashion quizes, no more locking each other out of not our house, no more. There's just no more - who's hands will we be in? Who will shop with us and laugh with us and cook with us? Who's hands will carry my stuff up the stairs when it's too heavy and who's hands will sew his buttons back on?

God's hands carry us still though...

It was God's hands that brought us together, and it is the span and reach of those mighty hands that will keep us together.

The end of an era, yes. But also, the beginning of a new challenge. For what is a friendship, a true and good and deep one, if it cannot stand the test of time or distance? Committment to be friends can matter more than proximity. All of this we realized tonight.

And fittingly, it was in a grocery store and a kitchen, just the way it started.