a simple thank you.

soon after our wedding, phil and i moved out to minnesota for phil to begin medical school.  we didn’t know a soul out there.  we had no family or friends anywhere near us.  i had just changed my last name to his and suddenly even my own name wasn’t familiar to me.

it was just him and i together, starting this new life together.  and at first, it was exciting to be ‘just us’ on this adventure together.  we said goodbye to everyone we knew, left our jobs, our apartments, our church family, and took off on a roadtrip as newlyweds.  we moved into a teeny apartment on the eighth floor of a building in the middle of downtown.  there was this huge thunderstorm one night during our first week there.  and because it was august and because we were from california where rain in the summertime is a very rare occurrence,  this booming thunderstorm with its streaks of lightning illuminating the sky totally freaked us out.  to put it mildly.  we even wondered if we were supposed to take shelter somewhere and if so, where?  yep.  newbies.

at least we had each other in that “you and me against the world” sort of way in those first few days and weeks.

but then phil began his schooling and i was left alone in this new life.  it was pretty tough to get my bearings and it was downright lonely a lot of the time.

once or twice i found myself wondering how long it would take for anybody to notice if phil and i were to die in that teeny apartment.  i figured it would most likely be our next door neighbor who we never actually met because he liked to hole himself up in his apartment day and night smoking out and keeping his computer volume turned All The Way Up so that we could hear through the wall whenever one of his aol chat buddies messaged him.  and whenever he responded.  i also figured it would be maybe a month or so before even he noticed the stench of our decomposing bodies.

yes, a definite morbid line of thought.  and pretty unsettling to wonder about when you don’t know a single person besides your new husband.

but then, things slowly started changing for the better.  we joined a small group through the church we had been attending.  this small group was comprised of eight other newly married couples and it was so nice to connect with others in the same stage of life and to find many commonalities between us.

i stopped wondering how long it would take for somebody to notice if we died because i figured the answer would now be one week, maybe two.  being that our small group met weekly, probably someone there would notice our absence and maybe call to find out what happened to us.  strange how i found figuring even that out oddly comforting.

so we began to feel less isolated as we kept meeting with our small group who became our friends who eventually became like family to us when we had none out there.  and i can’t tell you how much those friends meant to me.  especially when we had mikey and they came around us and loved on him even when he went through his extreme stranger anxiety stage.  and we grew closer through playdates and regular gatherings just to enjoy one another’s company.  then we had allie and we knew we had trusted friends who we could ask to stay with mikey while we were in the hospital.  like i said, they were like family to us.

and then came the day when we had to move back to california.  those goodbyes weren’t easy.  especially the ones said at the airport where i had a one-way flight booked.  and one dear friend who cried hard over that last goodbye.  i’ve moved countless times in my life and she was the only person to cry like that over my leaving.

that’s when i knew i had a friend for life.  and i consider myself extremely blessed to count her as a precious friend. 

because even though we live far apart now,

and we don’t get to keep in regular contact like we used to,

she still manages to somehow remember…

each of my kids’ birthdays.

and somehow manages to send each one (even includes a little something for pesky little sisters)

a surprise birthday package

filled with exactly the things they totally love.  (he still looks at this book every day!)

she even somehow understands the plight of the little sister with the last birthday in the family,

and sends the pesky little sister her very own birthday box…

even though she’s currently expecting her own fourth baby.

and so a simple thank you

for being that person in my kids’ (and my) life…

just somehow seems like not quite enough.  (it finally fits, btw, and i LOVE him in it!)

so this one’s for you, dear lorie.  your friendship means more to me than i can ever say and my kids love their ‘auntie lorie’ and ‘uncle adam’ very very much!!  we can’t wait for your little one to get here and are expecting lots and lots of pictures and updates, ok?  🙂