Today I found a package that I have been meaning to mail for 9 months. I had packed it away and moved it up with me to San Francisco. I opened it up and smiled. Inside was a picture that had been taken in October of 2003. I had only been living in California for 2 months. The three guys in the picture are my boyz, they looked after me, had adventures with me, and tucked me in when I passed out on their couch. My brothers. They were the type of friends that while I was with them, nothing else existed in that moment except for the four of us.

In the two months since we first met, we had already shared so many awesome memories from shooting a WTO protest and then crossing the border to drink for 12 hours straight (Do you have anything to Declare? "Yes, three lesbians and one Mexican") to many pitiful attempts at trying to teach me football (which ended in them telling me the team color we were rooting for and a nudge system of 1 meaning woohoo and 2 meaning fuck shit dammit all to hell!!!). When I was in Barcelona, I called no one else but them, and coming home was the best family reunion ever.

In this photo, it was Isreal's (far left) 31st birthday.


We ate sweet potato burritos, drank cheap beer followed by opening up a yummy $150.00 bottle of cab. We went from bar to bar, celebrating the evening and Isreal, dancing the night away to CCR and Lynard Skynard.

The four of us have since parted, once school had ended, and have gone our seperate ways. We knew that it would be difficult for us to remain in contact with each other so we simply said that one day, we would somehow all be in the same country at the same time, and find one another. We would come together again and drink. Drink to the good ol days (preferably in Morocco or Thailand) and spend some time catching up. I know it's too soon in all of our careers for this to be possible right now, but I believe that it will happen someday. I miss them something fierce and wish that we could all be standing in a kitchen, at some party, arguing over politics. But for now, I must be content with the memories we have together and know that I will see them soon.

I'm mailing this photograph to Ryan (middle) because he was always the most sentimental out of all of us. I know that when he opens the package, a huge smile will erupt onto his face.

*EDIT* It took me a while to get this in the mail but I finally did it!