I met Sumaya by fluke.

The first time I met her, she was fixing her hijab in the bathroom at school. We both had that look black girls give each other, but we smiled and I told her I liked the pattern in her scarf. I didn't think that hours later we'd be cracking jokes and scarfing down pizza in a creative writing tank getting ready for Dawson's first SPACE publishing. Friendships that start off with kindergarten simplicity are always the best.

The past few months haven't been easy for either of us. Between school, home, work, and socializing, 2014 has been less than kind. As much as I think we'd both like to just cling to each other and read/write/drink tea, we can't. Unfortunately, life is no longer too forgiving to artists, especially not writers. What can't wait for weekly meetings spills over into text messages that never end.

Anyways, she bought these for me a few days ago and made me this scrapbook with pictures and quotes (so many James Baldwin and Junot Díaz quotes) and love notes and I literally stood in the middle of the McGill library with my heart trembling and trying to stop myself from crying to hard.

I think I never got that sibling I wished so hard for as a kid because eventually I was going to meet Sumaya.

Labels: blog, jamaica kincaid, james baldwin