Best of Friends

Right now, I have 3 girl friends that I consider 'my best'. :) Mandy and Heather, sadly, this post is not about you. This one is about my Angie. :)


Angie and I met in 4th grade - that's right people. We've been friends since we were 10ish. We've gone times without 'playing' with each other on a regular basis. We've gone in different directions in life but we've always managed to end up back together. She was even my Maid of Honor at my wedding (and other than family, the only one I even see anymore).

Currently, Angie and I 'play' about once a week or at least every other week. Jeremiah even affectionately calls her his "Every Other Weekend Wife" because (her hubby) TJ works every other weekend, which means she comes to our house. :) Her kids are basically the same ages as my kids. We've gone to each other's baby showers. We've been there for each other when our when babies are sick. We've vented about life's frustrations (in detail!) to each other.

We laugh. We cry. We love.

So why am I suddenly all mushy about my Angie? TJ (currently an RN) has been accepted to Med School - IN FLORIDA!!! They are trying to sell their house and their rental property so that they can move. TO FLORIDA. That's a 4 hour *expensive* flight that I don't have money to take. And I don't even want to think about how far of a drive that is. :(

Angie and I have this thing of taking middle of the night trips to movies - sans kids and hubby's. It's our time. We've also got this weird holding hands at movies thing - to comfort at sad scenes, hang on to for scary scenes or to convey our excitement at happy scenes. We went to a movie a few weeks ago and in the middle of it, I started to cry. It wasn't even a sad scene. I just realized that there aren't going to be many more middle of the night movie trips with my Angie for at least 3 years. And I cried. It went basically unnoticed, but at the end, when I told Angie that I had been crying because I realized it was coming to the end of our time together, she started bawling. And we both sat there and cried and held each other's hands and hugged for about 15 minutes because we're losing our best friends to distance. We ended up talking to each other for an extra 2 hours after the movie was over about our friendship and our lives and how we'd be okay. How there will be great phone conversations. How there will be at least a trip a year where she will come back 'home' and we'll go out. About how the family we choose is just as important as the family we are born into.

I'm sad to see her go - more than I can adequately express here. I know I'll be okay because I have other friends / family to keep me busy that are just as awesome as my Angie. I know she'll be okay because she's just awesome that way. She can make friends SO easily and she has a great husband who will show her unwavering love. But I'm going to miss her.

I'm going to miss having her around every other weekend. I'm going to miss having her only a 15 minute drive away. I'm going to miss holding her hand at movies. I'm going to miss taking cheesy pictures with her. I'm going to miss her amazing memory that calls me on stupid things I did as a teenager. I'm going to miss the teasing that her and Jeremiah get into every other weekend. I'm going to miss her closeness. I'm going to miss her honesty.

But we'll be okay.
Somehow.
Right? :(

I love you, my Angie.

Appreciation for babies :)

Robyn and Baby Kiah, Nov. 2009

Sometimes, when life is good, you don't realize how good it is. Sometimes you will take those little moments for granted. You don't give your babies enough loves. You don't get down on the floor and play with them enough. You just don't show them how much you really love them. Then something happens - life slaps you in the face. Kids get sick. And it all comes hurtling back into perspective.

Angie has been one of my bestests (friends) since I was in 4th grade. We've been through quite a lot together. She was my Maid of Honor when I got married. :) She's my girl version of Jeremiah. :) She's a total goof ball and I love her for it. :)

Angie has 4 kids. 3 boys and one precious little girl named Kiah. Today is Kiah's birthday. And not just any birthday... Her 1st birthday! :) Last year, I was visiting this little doll in the hospital. Last year, I was holding her and kissing her and loving on her. Loving this little girl who my Angie has been waiting and wanting for SO long. Today, I was in another hospital room, loving on and kissing this same little girl and visiting with my Angie.


Kiah is sick, but she'll be okay. She was acting like she was teething and had a cold, but when her face started to swell (down by her jaw bone), they took her to the doctor. Antibiotics didn't cut it and now they are in the hospital. Kiah was admitted on Monday and they hope to bring her home by Thursday - with enough time to get a party together for her oldest little guy who turns 7 on Sunday. They have drained bacteria from the swelling and are doing tests on it. Unfortunately, the swelling is back so they are thinking they may have to do surgery. It's not necessarily a life or death experience, but it is a scary, scary thing to have your little one in the hospital. For any reason.

I didn't know that visiting baby Kiah in the hospital was going to affect me. But it did. I was suddenly back to the same hospital that Robyn was diagnosed in. The same cribs. The same Hospital room set up. The kids floor and play room. I started shaking a little and actually ended up crying a little while reliving my Robyn's experience.

Angie and I talked about how it's scary and how you long to see your 'healthy' kids and how you feel like you should just hold your sick little one. We both decided that if this is what it takes to be able to relate or to be strong and grow personally, that we're happy NOT relating to others and being weak and not growing personally. :)

It also makes you stop and think about your life - what is precious and what deserves your time and how you can be better. About how you freaked out and left your husband at the hospital to take care of your daughter because you couldn't handle it YET your friend is refusing to eat or go to the bathroom because she has to be there and hold and comfort her baby. Angie is a good mom. A great mom. And a great friend. :) She is calm and she's feeling the blessings of health and modern medicine. She's pretty much amazing.



Happy Birthday to baby Kiah - we wish you a happy and healthy new year. Get better soon, baby girl!

New Moon!

I really liked the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I read the books pretty quickly once I got them in my hands. I even went on a girls weekend when the last book (Breaking Dawn) came out. We basically sat around and read the whole time. It was awesome.

Angie introduced me to the Twilight books. She bought me the first one (TWILIGHT) for my birthday. I read it in a couple of days. Then I borrowed the second book (NEW MOON) and finished it in a couple of days. The third book (Eclipse) I bought for myself and read it in a few days... Breaking Dawn, well, I already wrote about that... :)

Since it was my lovely Angie who introduced me to the books, it only makes sense that I saw Twilight with her. We saw it twice. On opening day... One year ago today, actually. :) It was a great day. Wedding, Movie, Reception, Movie... :) My Jedd and his Jessie got married and I watched Vampires. Awesome. :) Anyway....

my date :)

And of course, since my Angie is a little obsessive when it comes to the Twilight series and beautiful men, we HAD to see this one together! :) So, 3 months ago when a friend of Angie's sister-in-law rented an entire theater for the New Moon premiere, Angie bought me a ticket. :) (What? You act like it's weird to have a movie ticket 3 months in advance?) :)

New Moon poster

So we have been patiently waiting for 3 months to see 'our' movie. FINALLY, it was time. Two nights ago, the Smith girls came up and we ate pizza and watched Twilight. Angie and her sister-in-laws went to a more expensive place. Then Angie came over and we visited for a little. Finally, it was time to go!!! We went to our theaters (Smith's went to one, Angie and I went to another) and got to see our show. There were a few people there....

PART of the crowd (after they started letting people in...)

Angie's family and friends were awesome. We got our pictures taken with the cardboard cutouts of Jacob and Edward. (What? It's fine! So what that we are all too old for these boys and that they are cardboard cutouts! We don't care!!! It was fun!) Wanna see?

So how was the movie?

It was AMAZING!!!

Loved it, loved it, loved it. I won't talk about it in case you haven't seen it or read the books, but know that it was freaking awesome. And you should see it. And invite me to see it with you. And buy my ticket. Because it's awesome. And I want to see it again. But I'm broke.

isn't this enough reason to see a movie??? :)

So when are we going to see it? :)