happy birthday, Emily Violet!

Special Special happy birthday to the lovely Emily Violet. Most of the amazing history of Em & Ry, I've already talked about here, but this year, every occasion is worth celebrating to the max because wow, has it been some year. 


As can be the case with almost any almost 20 year long friendship, this time last year, we could hardly find time to talk at all. And now, she's one of the three people in my life I get nervous about if I don't talk to everyday. 


No one could have handled the kind of year this has been with as much class as Emily has shown. The crash course in lessons have made her even wiser, funnier and more caring than she's always been, when most people would have given up. Amazing how even when something isn't happening directly to you, when you sign up to be there for someone-- and really commit to that-- for better or worse, it IS happening to you. I know this year, I've been as upset about this stuff as if it were happening to me. And I feel fortunate to have learned the lessons as well as I went through this year with Emily. 


I've had the insulation of distance and my own tendency to daydream inward out of difficult dilemmas, but with each new difficulty, breakthrough or painful revelation about the way the people we love can hurt us, can change, I've clung to one thing... I was determined to be the exception to those painful lessons for Emily no matter what. When one person might be trying to break her spirits (over and over, repeatedly) I would snap it back into place. 


Some people will lie and tell you they'll always be there for you, but really mean "only until it's inconvenient for them." Encounter too many of those people, and you'll start to think people will only stick around until there's some more interesting option. But I'm not one of them. Not for Emily. And so, by proving it with myself, I hope to prove it for myself. So I don't lose hope either. Because I know how much there really is to be gained on both sides when you just continue to show up, check the temperature and listen.


I love to listen. I love my Emily!