“Homegirl” meant that I was the friend from her home. I actually wasn’t. The short story is that I’m from Chicago and she is not. Most of my Christian life used to be bedded down across the great state of Michigan, and she was part of my Christian life. Thus, Michigan plays the role of my home in this drama called life.
She didn’t take to me when we first met. And to say we struggled and grew as friends would be severely understating it. But He allowed for a chasm that I never approved. There’s a handful of things the Lord does of which I don’t approve. I always hope to come around. In that chasm is where I quit being “homegirl.”
It’s a stupid title, foolish kid-stuff – and it wasn’t until I lost it that I realized how important it made me feel. Away at college is like another life when you leave home. It wasn’t too long ago that I did the same, and the bridges you burn never quite become comfortable.
So, to her college crew, I was a piece of home. Homegirl. To a new crew, I’m only an appendage. College is home now, and home is…home is something the two of us never shared in the first place.
I’m from Chicago and she is not. And only one gal still calls me “homegirl.”
