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Tonight I shared with my friends my plan in future weeks to write haikus at the start of each blog entry as I travel around the world. None of them seems sure where I’m going. Some seem to think I’ll be traveling in Europe. Others seem determined that I’ll be in Eastern Europe. Still others think that we’ll be visiting the “world’s biggest intersection.” Whatever the case, wherever I am in the coming weeks, I have a goal to write haiku poems at the start of each entry. I don’t really have a reason for this. I didn’t even know totally what that meant until tonight, but it seems like a hippie thing to do and since I’m going on a “find yourself” kind of trip, I figure it’s only natural that I smoke a lot of pot and write a lot of ancient far eastern poetry. Right? (Just kidding about that pot smoking part)

Anyway, as I was sharing my big poetry penning plans, there was some insistence that I share with all the world (or the two of you who read my blog – thanks Mom and Rosie!) what my friends and I were up to this evening. And so I will.

Today was my friend Daryn’s last day of work at the magazine where I spend the majority of my days. And I am really going to miss her. Somewhere along the way, Daryn became not only one of my closest friends at the magazine, but also one of my favorite people in Atlanta. And so tonight we celebrated her departure. There were tears. There was reminiscing. But mostly there was a lot of laughing because with that group, there always is.

So now, in my ode to Daryn, I will share the things I will miss most - sorry Mom and Rosie, you won’t totally get these.

I will miss the way Daryn calls herself a Grandma like every other day even though she’s easily one of my hottest, most vibrant friends and is only like 2 years older than me.

I’ll miss her blunt fashion sense. “I’m sorry, I like all your other shoes, but not those boots.”

I’ll miss her adoration of Malcolm-ish, small furry dogs.

I’ll miss her imitations of a certain person in our office. They were uncanny in their similarity. And hilarious.

I’ll miss her ghetto dancing. And her rummaging through “the beauty box.”

And her ability to eat things like mayonnaise and French fries and still be the size of my pinky finger. (Well, I’ll only miss this a little.)

There are lots of things about Daryn I’m going to miss around the office and especially in the small group of us who have become close friends at the magazine, but I guess really what I’ll miss most is that group itself. Because it won’t be the same without Daryn. And because that group of five is what has made my time in Atlanta the gift that it has been for me. While I’m happy for Daryn and know that she is taking advantage of an incredible opportunity, I am a little sad too because tonight was the end of an era. And I guess that’s always a little sad. So, in an effort not to end on a depressing note, I will write my first official haiku:

daryn is awesome
she loves gucci and doodoo
she will be much missed