The school year has started and with that so many emotions are aflutter. Change is never easy, and this time of year really tests that notion out. Big time.

One of the big changes for Em this year was not knowing who would be in her class. Our school posts class lists a week before school begins. No email, no letter ahead of time, just a piece of paper posted outside the office window at 4pm on one specific date. The anticipation and build up, as you can imagine, was intense. The most important and oft repeated question was, “Will my best friend be in my class?”

The idea of a BFF when you’re a kid is so intense and so big. Finding someone you jive with and then spending most of your formative years with them, through all the developmental hustle and bustle, is even bigger. The trust, the intimacy, the safety of knowing someone gets you (and is going to break the rules with you…sometimes) is sacred.

But what if they move away?

In his eleventh single (from his single-a-month release series), “BFF Goodbye,” MIsta Cookie Jar expresses the poignant and deeply conflicted feelings associated with having to say goodbye to your best friend. The song has a Dylan-esque vibe which suits the nature of this real-life story – MCJ’s stepdaughter Ava Flava and her best friend, Miss Mikyla, were faced with saying goodbye when Mikyla had to move away. “BFF Goodbye” balances the raw emotion of such a spirit crushing situation with beautiful ways of coping that make this track so touching.