i received a package last week. while i hoped it was my long-awaited summer dress from etsy (come on, dress, get here already!), a quick glance at the return address revealed something different. for instead of seeing a taiwanese place of origin (perhaps the reason for its tardiness -cross-continental traveling…), i saw a local address -one belonging to none other than miss BL herself.

i picked up the box and carried it up the stairs. i took notice of the jingles that echoed beneath its cardboard chambers as i climbed, but while their clangs evoked a sense of familiarity, i was still unable to determine their source of origin. i set the package on the dining room table, slid the grooves of my pair of kitchen scissors over the clear packing tape, and ripped open the box’s fibers. its contents revealed a second box and a photo inscribed with writing. the photo was one that she had taken two weeks prior at coachella -the now instagram-famous ferris wheel and the setting desert sun behind it. across the sky was white lettering and a verse -jeremiah 34:1, a verse someone had sent to her as she nursed a recent heartbreak, and the same verse she had, in turn, shared with me as i had done the same just a month later.

 i will rebuild you, you will be happy and dance merrily with your tambourines.

and in that instant, i knew exactly what those familiar sounds belonged to. a tambourine. BL had sent me a tambourine! a reminder of God’s providence and promise of restoration, and a symbol of happier times awaiting us both just around the corner.

friendships like the one i share with BL don’t come around often. they are the ones that you wonder how you lasted so long without, and the ones that you find yourself thanking God for every day. what started as an acquaintanceship through social media has blossomed into a full-blown sisterhood. we’ve shared stories of love, and subsequently love lost, and just about everything in between. and through it all, we both have found comfort in jeremiah 31:4 -that one day, we will be happy (in love) and dance merrily with our tambourines.

i think that day is coming sooner than we think, and it’s a good thing, because now i’m fully prepared with my own tambourine.

miss BL, i’ve said it once and i’ll say it again (this time without the magic of emojis), i simply adore you. you are not only physically stunning, but your soul emits an unprecedented beauty all its own. thank you for being my friend.

and for my amazing tambourine.

best mail day ever.