I met Anna in 2007, when we were both on exchange in Canada– irrepressibly bubbly and full of giant hugs and even bigger kisses, Anna was a bounding bundle of jubilant, Spanish/Barcelona energy. We vowed to keep in touch, and parted ways with the sweetest of memories on replay, as we proceeded to go about living life for the next seven years.
In this time, we’ve kept in tiny touch– and I say “tiny”, because at best, it was two Facebook messages a year. At best, it was a cluster of words in an Instagram comment. At best, it was a “like” for a Facebook post.
Such is the strength of some friendships that when Anna and I caught up today: older, a little less rambunctious, and a tiny bit more mature, we greeted each other with a big big hug, yelled a bit, and then talked the afternoon away. Anna helped me with my Deutsch, Anna’s delightful Deutsch man Konnis helped Anna with her Deutsch, while I unhelpfully helped all of us get lost, as I provided a confused tour of the city (my directionally challenged brain!!).
We sat in the sun, destroyed Freiburg’s best Black Forest Cake, and had a fabulous reunion.
Thank you for coming to see me, Anna and Konnis– I was so happy to see you. Anna, I miss you already: my smiley, sparkly, Spanish one, and Konnis, thank you for driving for hours to come to Freiburg- I know you’ll take care of Anna for me, because you’re a superstar!!
Word of the day: Freundschaft, meaning “friendship”, because you gotta cultivate the good ones, baby.