I need to take this brief moment to be a little selfish. This is about a friend of mine, whom will remain nameless so that she doesn't get embarrassed. Her name rhymes with Manielle and starts with a "D," but I will not utter her name. She has come to be a very good friend of mine and technically we are related (her husband and my husband are first cousins).
I found out at the beginning of summer that her and her family will be moving. Now normally I would be upset about this anyway, but they are moving halfway across the country and I'm a little upset by it. Now don't get me wrong, I am very happy for her and her family! I know first-hand how much Iowa winters suck here and have many times hoped that we lived somewhere where the temperatures don't go down to negative numbers and it doesn't snow. But at the same time I've very upset by the fact that someone who has become such a good friend of mine will soon be leaving. And one of the worst parts of the situation is that she and I don't know when she will be leaving. It could be in a week, it could be in 2 months. I don't know if it would be better to know for sure when she is leaving or not, but it still sucks that the whole date issue is up in the air.
And even worse yet is that I have so few friends with children. I mean, I have a lot of friends, but most of them are just newlyweds, not nearly close enough to having children. And my friends who do have children only have like one, compared to my three. She not only has children, but both of her kids are within 6 months in age to two of my kids. This makes play dates extra special and extra fun. People with children know that there is a special bond between them and other people with kids. People without children don't understand or get the tantrums, the whining, the spoiling, the bad table manners, and anything else that goes along with having children. She just gets me. She understands what I go through on a daily basis being a stay-at-home mom. She gets when I want to pull out my hair and scream, or cry out of happiness. She can sympathize with me when the kids are acting out or can feel happy for me when something good happens. We are a lot alike and enjoy a lot of the same things. In fact, we've even talked about how we want to get pg again at the same time.
And our boys are quickly becoming best friends. Every time we get together they pretty much don't leave each other's side. And it is so stinking adorable. Konner has met a few kids before in his short life, but he has never had a connection with anyone like he does with Caden. He asks for him all the time and when they come over to our house to visit, they spend hours up in his room watching movies and playing. In fact, they came over last night for dinner and a visit and Konner and Caden spent the entire time we didn't have dinner up in his room. He even wanted Caden to spend the night with him and he cried when they had to finally go home. It's going to break my heart when I have to explain to him that his best friend has moved across the country and they won't be able to play together anymore.
If only we had met each other sooner. We've been in the same family for years, but never really got a chance to meet or realize that we lived so close to each other. We finally met a year and a half ago at Greg's grandfather's funeral. As sad as a time that was for everyone involved, it turned into something really great. We met, talked and found out that we were both pg. Heath turned out to be born about a month and a half before her daughter. He loves her to death, but we constantly remind them that they can't date because they are related. :-) Maybe I'm so upset because I've had such a short amount of time to be able to hang out with her. I wish we had known each other years ago, maybe then her leaving wouldn't be so hard. ...Well, who am I kidding? I'm sure her leaving would be even harder then. But no matter how much fun we have together I can't help but be a little sad every time we hang out because I know that these good times can't be had forever, that eventually she will leave and their will be no more play dates or family get-togethers.
I am grateful for the amount of time that we have gotten to know each other and hang out. I'm grateful that she was able to come into my life and her son was able to come into Konner's. Whether they leave next week or 2 months from now, we will miss them like crazy! The pictures will remind us of the happy times we had together and I guess we will always be related, right? At least Greg and I (and maybe the kids) have a place to vacation now, when we go visit them in their new home. And maybe we can convince them to come back and visit us every now and then. I wish them nothing but the best of luck in their future endeavors and the enjoyment of hot summer days and warm winter months. I will be jealous of their year-round warm climate, their palm trees and their view of the mountains. I will be less jealous of their constant need for sunscreen and their poisonous snakes, spiders and scorpions. I try not to be too selfish in life, but in this instance I can't help it. We will miss you guys! But more importantly, I WILL MISS YOU! I treasure your friendship Manielle with a "D!"
Speechless.
ReplyDeleteAnd sad. :(