Here's to Brigette

I first met Brigette when I was at band camp in high school. My friend Molly and I climbed in a minivan with her two sisters, her mom, and her aunt. We six ladies each packed a week’s worth of luggage. Nutty stuff. Molly’s mom dropped us off at the International Music Camp at Peace Gardens (North Dakota/Manitoba), and there we were, Molly with her trumpet and me with my trombone, for a week of extensive band-geekiness and culture shock (weirdly; Canadians are SO AWESOME).

Brigette had traveled to IMC with her French horn from a little town in North Dakota. While I met lots of people at band camp, Brigette has always stayed in touch with me, and been there for me when I needed her. She’s a few years older than me, but we’ve always been on the same page; there are things I’m comfortable discussing with Brigette, who I knew for a few days and have only really met once in my life, that I don’t really feel right talking about with anyone else. She is so clever, creative and unique. She reminds me of me in many ways – I get the vibe from her that she, like me, is comfortable being herself, she’s just not entirely sure who she is yet.

So that’s the backstory. The frontstory is that today I checked my mail and found a package slip. When I picked my package up from the front desk, I saw that it was from Brigette. I opened it up, and it smelled GOOOOOD. Packed in among some plastic shopping bags used as padding, I found a cozy blanket, a composition notebook with a handmade collage cover, a package of ramen, and a Dig Dug musical greeting card. In with the card was a letter.

This package embodies Brigette, for me. It smells like her. It came with a hug in the form of a blanket. She’s nourishing me with food, expressing her creativity with the collage. It’s incredibly generous – a care package from one college student to another is costly in terms of content, time investment, and shipping. The card made me laugh; the letter is so full of beautiful things, both happy and sad, that it brings tears to my eyes.

I find myself wishing there were more people in the world like Brigette; however, if there were, it would be more difficult to appreciate her for what she is: a sweet, gorgeous, enchanting person who makes my life sweeter.