Moving On

Well...thank goodness the Morco's and the Anderson's are going to be here this summer, because all our other friends have left us :( Steph and Tyler just stopped by to say their final goodbye before heading over to the sunshine in Arizona. Same with Alex, Tim and Isabelle last night. The Winters, Smiths, and Arrington's have been gone for quite a few days now. Today we are also helping the Jankowski's move. I guess I just had it in my mind when we moved here it wouldn't be so hard because we all knew our lives are so fluid for the next few years. But still, it is a little sad watching everybody leave, whether it is for a just a few months or forever. I will miss everyone but that is just a part of life I suppose.

The good thing is friendships and the lessons you can learn from them DO last, no matter the time or distance. I learned this through the 36 different young women's leaders I had, through the people who I've meet between two different colleges, or wherever. I used to cry when anyone would move and ask my Mom what the point was in making friends if they were all just going to leave..wouldn't it have been better if we had never met and then I would never have to miss them? Of course, she'd laugh a bit, and then reassure me that that would not be a good thing. Now I realize how foolish that thought was.

One of my favorite storybooks explained it perfectly in comparing it to snow. Snow can be such a beautiful, perfect thing-something that you want to bring home and keep to admire and cherish-but when moved to a new environment, or held to tightly, it will just melt and fade away and there is no beautiful thing left to cherish. Friendships aren't like that. You can hold them tight, and they will love you back. You can bring them, whether physically or emotionally, wherever you go. The more attention and love applied the more solid they be will be. And when heat or a refining fire is introduced, more often then not, you will walk out of it with a stronger friendship instead of a melted or faded one. So even though I'm sad, I'm SO grateful for these past two semesters and the friends we've made and cherished-and I look forward to the new friends we will make!

PS: One of the few upsides to everyone leaving is they've given us all their food-our fridge has never been so full HAHA! And we have a place to stay anytime we want to go anywhere on vacations! YA!