My lil Jojo...

I have a Jojo.  Do you?

Jojo is a girl that I have "known" for the better part of a decade but didn't have the occasion to really know until I moved to the Eastside of Oly.  Thanks to friends of friends, we occasionally get the accidental introduction to someone whom fits so well into our lives that you wonder how it's possible that you've only been friends for a short time.

While it's only been a year, I can tell you volumes about my Jojo.  I won't.  I know she wouldn't approve.  So let's stick to the highlights...

First of all, I should confess that she's not actually my Jojo.  Just a brief perusal of her facebook page reveals that there are many who claim her as their own Jojo.  This tells me so much.  I may be her Sheabird.  And my dog is her Lil-bubble-gum-nosed-Burtie.  I could go on with her other petnames but you get the point.  Suffice it to say that we all love our Jojo and our petnames...and I'm not usually one for pet names.

Jojo loves.  Jojo gives.  Jojo feels.  And Jojo tells.  I always thought that I wore my heart on my sleeve.  I was wrong.  Jojo has shown me what that term actually means.  The honesty and pure, visceral, emotion that she wears openly not only impresses me but endears her to me.  How many of us can openly own up to our foibles?  What about those daily little reminders that to err is human?  Or those moments when humility is the only option?  Personally, these realities of the human experience tend to be the ones I fight hardest to hide.  Am I dishonest?  Nah.  Mostly just too prideful.  But Jojo appears fearless in her willingness to share these deeply human moments.  And it seems from the responses that are posted, that I'm not alone in the relief and wave of relatedness that others experience in her wake.

I'm thinking of this, and my Jojo, as I try to wrap my brain around what it is to blog.  How to blog openly and meaningfully while navigating those walls and fences?  How honest is it safe to be?  How much can I share without regretting it?  Am I dodging this curve ball by following the inclination to write about those I love best?  I guess the best answer I can hold up to these questions is that the people I'm hoping to showcase here are the ones who have taught me the most about myself.  For it is safe to say that most of my existence has been enriched, supported and illuminated at the hands of those whom have shared themselves with me.

Jojo came into my life just weeks after it last imploded on itself.  I was still in the throws of an unmarried-divorce, unpacking in my tiny hole of an apartment.  I was still giving myself license to burn the candle at both ends as I worked and drank myself through the wreckage and reconstruction.  So it was that I had my first girls' night with her and our mutual friend, Janelle.  At first I figured it was the jager bomb that was loosening my lips as we had those initial conversations.  Now I know it was just the comfort that I feel in sharing the worst and best parts of my life with her.

Over the proceeding months I was fortunate to have a Jojo to sit with me on a broke-down balcony overlooking a parking lot, or in a kiddy pool in the front yard or in a booth at a downtown bar, and sift through the bits and pieces of our past and present to try to determine how in the hell we both got here and where the fuck we wanted to go next.

It wasn't purposefully or perfectly synchronized, but we both ended up taking flight near the end of that long year.  Unfortunately for me, she went South while I went North...literally, not figuratively :-)

There are only a couple people I miss in Oly and she is definitely one of them, although she no longer resides there.  But I now have the distinct pleasure of watching electronically as she takes flight.  I hope that she knows that while this Sheabird, and many other petnamed-pals are aching for her presence, that we all are first and foremost cheering and pushing her forward.  After many years of being the anchor for so many, she is now sailing on unknown seas.  And I've been there...haven't you?  It's scary as hell and every day is torturous and spine-tinglingly exciting.

I hope that the heart she's carrying on that sleeve of hers is able to absorb all that's bombarding it while protecting her just enough to keep her sweet, happy and honest.  Because wherever she may go, we all still need to know our lil Jojo is there.