Today will be tough

St Patricks Day 2012

"We’ll be friends whether we’re near or far apart, because God holds your hand and He holds mine and keeps us close at heart”

Tomorrow morning my best friend is moving to Chile. Shannon and I have been friends since we were 7 years old, we met at a roller skating rink...yes, that's right we both used to take private roller skating lessons....we were even in a competition once together. We've worked together, celebrated holidays vacationed together....and smoked a lot of cigarettes together.

We worked at Big Boy together when we were 15.

New Years Eve...I think we were about 13 years old.

My graduation from high school party.

 Unfortunately we too went through a recent period of unrest where we didn't talk for 4 years ( we were 23-27 years old). You must think I'm really hard to get along with! Let's just say I've learned a lot, in fact I think I'm writing a whole post about it! In this case it was a mutual hurt. During the time we weren't speaking (again I thought we'd never speak again, and I was ok with that). I did miss her at times but NOW I LONG to have that time back, and it took a long time for me to fully get back into the friendship....I wish it hadn't. I have a lot of regrets. Since we've been speaking again over the last 2 years I've realized how much she adds to my life. I think Shannon is the ONLY person who FULLY gets me. We can joke about anything, we always make each other laugh, I find her to be one of the most interesting people I know, and I think we can disagree on things in a way that all people should....now, not 6 years ago. She was the bigger person, after our 4 years of unrest- Shannon was the one to call me. If she hadn't we probably wouldn't be speaking still. I am so sad that I missed out on all that time with her. 

Drinking and smoking at the bar....we were 17 years old.

This was one of my senior pictures....I'm actually not joking.

Another New Years Eve...I think we were 15.

There are millions of things I'm going to miss about my dear friend but I am so hopeful that we will continue our late night banter on facebook so it won't really seem like she's gone. Thank God for technology, we plan to skype weekly too. I couldn't be more excited for her. The only thing I love more than accomplishing my dreams is watching others achieve theirs. I am excited to learn about a culture I know nothing about, I am interested to hear about the people she will meet and I am thrilled to watch her life changing journey. Although...I am heartbroken. Will I ever see my dearest friend again? Incidentally, she is moving to a country of which I no interest to ever visit...I think that maybe Chile has some similar qualities to DELAWARE! But who knows, we've always talked about going to Maccu Piccu together so maybe we'll meet up there one day! Today will be tough, I'm already fighting back the tears and I haven't even said my goodbye yet.

Halloween-2005.

She went with me when I went skydiving...and by that I mean THAT SHE RODE IN THE CAR WITH ME ON THE WAY UP TO THE JUMP SITE.

My wedding, April 2005

Easter 2012