Sorry I've not been around much. I think I may have mentioned before that our closest friends in town, J, G, T, and H, are moving back to the West Coast, and this past week has been preoccupied with (in addition to harvesting, swim lessons, and other things) either having them over for dinner or helping them pack and load their moving trailer.
It was pretty tiring for us just helping out 8 or so hours each day for the past couple of days, so I can imagine how utterly exhausted they must be, and then having to drive to the coast from the middle of the country. It's about 5 8-hour days of driving, but that doesn't figure in the extra time when caught in rush hour traffic around cities.
I had been saying to people that even though I was losing a good friend too, I felt worse for our kids because our friends' kids have been best buddies for my boys for the past 6 years. (6 years may not seem like a huge amount of time for adults, but for our younger ones, that's more than half their lives. Ds#2 and H were both 4 years old when we met them.) I thought the boys would be devastated, but either they're emotionless, or they just don't fully realize the impact this move has on their play lives. They had tons fun on their last day together, as usual, but said their good-byes in the carefree manners of kids.
I think, now, however, that I feel worse for me. I was more torn up by G's moving off than the boys are about T and H moving off. G and I had tons of fun together. We agreed on a lot of things and we complemented each other well in areas where the other was lacking. Sure there were times when we butted heads, but that made her more like a sister than a friend: we actually bickered and teased each other mercilessly.
There are other friends in town that I like a lot, and am very grateful to have them as friends, but what made the friendship special with JGTH was that the parents played together as nicely as the kids played together, and the parents like the other family's kids. Maybe we're fussy people, but it's rare that every single member of the two families not only like each other, but get along well. I think of some of my other friends in town that I consider to be dear friends, and while we all like each other a lot (parents and kids), in my opinion, the kids don't have as much in common, and therefore don't really play together.
OK, enough of this "woe is me" whining. Next up, I'm going to do Suds to Love's meme, and also one from Meg's blog. And maybe someday, I'll do the Thursday Thirteens again. :)
"To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act." ~ Anatole France (1844 - 1924)
