Friendship Bracelets and Farewells

Saying goodbye may be an even worse part of moving than packing. Last night my friend Jimmy came over. Instead of the movie we were supposed to watch, he filled out an application for a water conservation conference taking place in Alberta while I packed. An "organic" hangout, as Genny described it this morning. It took him a good 2 hours, but we listened to some pretty music, caught up, chatted and occasionally took breaks to cuddle. Jimmy is the best for this. He has a pretty bad reputation for his ways with the ladies in his early university career - "I was all about getting my fun stuff touched back in first year" would be a direct quote, in fact - but I have never had a more rewarding platonic male friendship. When he was done, we laid in my bed cuddling and chatting until I was on the verge of sleep. I am going to miss this boy an incredible amount. 

And upon waking, I had the distinct pleasure of having brunch with Genny W. this morning. A final farewell meal. Well...she is driving me to the airport tomorrow so I am without question buying her a delicious breakfast sandwich at the fast food venue of her choosing - so a penultimate meal I guess.

I feel it is a sign of maturity how well you deal with a generous gesture. Genny bought me breakfast. How hard do you fight such a thing? Obviously you don't let it slide without protest, but it is also really awkward for everyone involved when cards start waving like fencing foils. It makes me almost miss the days when everyone I knew was too broke to even think about buying someone else anything.

But yes, this 'leaving for an indefinite amount of time' business is really hard. There are people out East here who have become some of my closest friends. But I'm not from here. Aside from these friends, who, by and large, are also transient transplants, I have no roots. I have grown to love it here - I have a hair salon, a rugby community, a top notch esthetician, a veterinarian, a trivia night and my aforementioned fabulous friends. I do not like the idea of abandoning any of these things, and like even less the idea of having to replace them with French Canadian equivalents. I don't know which is going to be the worst, trying to find friends of equal calibre, or an esthetician who can do a decent brazilian... 

After breakfast, Genny and I went and bought a wealth of embossing floss so as to indulge in our own personal fashion revival: the friendship bracelet!  Back in the day, I only managed to work my way through 2 of the basic patterns in my Klutz Friendship Bracelets book - the inverse chevron and basic diagonal - but I am determined to match and surpass the accomplishments of the 13-year-old self. This is generally a good goal I think.

A bittersweet post. Learning to make friendship bracelets as I prepare to leave my East Coast friends.