See you later . . . not goodbye

Thursday night, we stopped by a friend's house. This was something I had been putting off - as if not stopping, not acknowledging that they were moving away, would somehow mean they weren't leaving.

But, it doesn't work that way, does it?

As we drove past their house, every light was on. This made sense, the moving van was arriving early the next day and I am sure they had quite a few final details to attend to. As much as I didn't want to, I asked my husband to pull into their driveway - the time to say goodbye was now.

Throughout life, there are many kinds of friends that cross our paths. Some will even join us on our journey for a period of time. And, if we are very lucky, we will be blessed with friends that become something more, friends who truly become part of our lives for a long, long time.

These are those kind of friends. We met because of our 5th grade daughters but became friends because we really liked each other. We've laughed together, celebrated together, shared difficult conversations, and watched our girls grow up. (I have a decade of 'first day of school' photos of them in my photo albums). When Nancy went back to school, I was thrilled for her and several years later, when I returned to graduate school, she was equally as happy for me. Adult friendships are often hard to maintain, it takes an effort to stay connected in the busy world we live in. Something else is often a bit more of a priority than sharing time; and, even if you've made loose plans to get together, those plans often give way to the demands of every day living and schedule changes that happen.

But, when you do get together, it's as if you are picking up a conversation you had just paused a few minutes ago . . . it never seems as if you haven't seen each other for months. Straight talk, solid conversation, we've covered more than fifteen years of growing up - shifting through several phases of parenting and marriage. Now, they are leaving the neighborhood, moving south, and taking on a new adventure in their journey.

I wish them well. I am excited that they are following their dream, relocating to a community they are drawn to and creating a new life. Together. I am pretty sure our paths will cross again but it will be different. I reminded them of my annual summer picnic and if they are visiting family nearby next June, they were always welcome. They may come . . . strolling down my driveway, bottle of wine in hand, as if they still lived around the corner. I am holding on to that imagine. For now, this is see you later, not goodbye.