cilantro grove sunday’s

it’s been ten years this summer. ten years since jess & lace & linds walked our yellow graduation flip flops across the blue bridge during the wee early morning hours. not many days after that - boxes were packed and she went there and she went there and gina and i went way over there. boxes packed with memories of the golden gate, a blue suzuki, a white sunbird, a silver honda, and a red metro, a pizza couch, jess’s snowflake sweater, macaroni and sauce, swimsuit bubble baths, zack blankets, silver bff rings, lilith fair, seven little sisters, shelley’s pool, gina’s room, pasco boys, richland boys, benton city boys, brandon, poison apples, e.f.y., making the book, , throwing the party, bon fires, overalls, girl/boy wars, and mama karleen…

there’s kids now. lot’s of boys and one sweet girl. and gina’s growing her first babe right this very second. and miles and miles and miles are between us. no matter what though, no matter if the years keep passing and the miles are getting farther. we start right where we left off. there’s something so magical in already knowing the in’s and the out’s of someone. and already knowing that you love them anyway. knowing what they need without them saying the words. knowing what they’re made of. knowing exactly what you’re going to get. there’s such sweet comfort and safety in that.

i can call up lacie – any day of the week, anytime. no matter what. she’ll hear me out. whatever i’ve got to say. at my loneliest, her voice is familiar. at my happiest, she’ll delight with me, at my most frustrated, she’ll offer advice. her couch is still always open… just like back then. only she’s the mama now.

gina carries a chunk of my lindsay heart along with her on every adventure she goes on. on hikes, and treks, on cruises, and runs… my heart thump, thump, thumps her some gina love. for a quick minute we were all eachother had in a tiny big-city apartment. she and i held on for our lives. and i’ll love her forever for not completely giving up on me.

jessie and i catch each other in a quick phone call here and there. between chasing boys and being wives we catch alot of answering machines. the message is always the same. “hey you. just sayin’ hi. thinking of you. wishing you were closer so we could chase these boys together. love you!” cause really that’s all that needs to be said and she gets all of me. still. cause we’re just like each other. we love the same pretty things, the same pretty music, the same simple goodness.

jessie’s here this summer. on a quick stop before she packs up her family and heads for singapore. by a fluke of happiness i get her for a summer minute. a summer to be mama’s together. the same silly girls. and we sit back and watch – cause we’re already thinking the same thing. how lucky we feel to watch our boys play together. how much we love each other. how we wish big things for each other. how i hope she’s going to be safe way over there… and how she hopes i’m safe sittin’ right here.

i threw a picnic for jess last week. to celebrate her birthday and give her a wish or two. had we been ten years younger we probably would have jumped off the dock. running start – no looking back. then we would have laid on our backs under the shade trees and imagined ourselves ten years older with four kids in tow…

happy summer birthday’s girls. i love each one of you and wish you so many happy, happy things.
thank you for finding me way back then…
love, lin