this one’s a winner. just wait for it.

have i talked about my best friend, the missionary, before?

he’s serving in australia. we are super close. the story of how we went from virtual strangers with mutual acquaintances to incredibly close is a story for another day. all you really have to know to appreciate the story i’m about to tell are the following facts:

1–missionaries for our church don’t call or talk to their friends when they are on their missions. they call their families twice a year–mothers’ day and christmas–and email once a week. the rest of the time is devoted to serving the Lord.

2–often, in order to keep up with friends and families, missionaries send their weekly emails to a long list of people. sometimes this happens through a family member who forwards the emails to a list, but the missionary just does it himself.

3–the missionary is the kind of person who tells friends of all kinds that he loves them. the people he gets to know well, he loves. we’ve said “i love you” to each other for a while, and i know he says it to other people.

4–that said, very few people know how close we are. i don’t talk about it much (thus why you haven’t really heard about him here).

5–the missionary is adorable. lots of girls would love a shot with him when he gets back. i know of several, and they are all on the email list because they are all friends of his.

okay. i think that’s all you need to know.

i write letters to him once every two weeks, and he writes on about the same schedule. inbetween letters, i usually send him a short email to say hi or to tell him something that happened that i will either forget or want him to know more quickly. updates on mom, for example, or the fact that i got a fellowship. email is a supplement to the regular writing.

okay.

so.

tonight i emailed him because i got a short letter from him yesterday that was incredibly sweet. i sent him an email that, in response to something that he said and which i quoted in my email (and i won’t put here because he didn’t give me permission), said this:

to which i say… <3 and . for reals.

and for the record…i love you more than that times about…insert whatever you want here. and YOU’RE the one who’s amazing.

i love you.

i sent that email earlier tonight.

when i got his weekly email a few hours later, somehow MY ENTIRE EMAIL HAD ATTACHED ITSELF TO HIS GROUP EMAIL.

which goes to his entire family, multiple ex-girlfriends, several of the girls who would like a shot, and random old companions and friends that he served with in australia who have already gone home.

i emailed him IMMEDIATELY, hoping that he was still online, to tell him what happened.  when he sent the email, he mentioned the random attachment but thought it was pictures that had automatically attached themselves to his email. (note to self: teach best friend to use internetz more successfully.)

i said:

my email to you somehow attached to your email to everyone.

great.

his response came a couple of minutes later:

that’ll be awkward…love you.

awkward DOES NOT EVEN BEGIN to describe it, although i sort of love that he’s all cavalier about it.  he’s like…whatever.

i think this one? this experience has just won a slot as my most embarrassing moment–and i didn’t even DO anything!  this embarrassment becomes especially potent when one of those people who received said email writes on my facebook wall about it.  it was a kind comment, but…wow.

just…wow.