Welcome Wagon

Since I can remember I always loved making new friends. Anytime there was a new kid at school I would eagerly go up to them and introduce myself and then probably ask them to come hang out at my house that weekend - I was such a winner.  Most of the friendships I made didn't last long. Either they couldn't take all of my awkward-JTT obsessed awesomeness, or we just had nothing in common.

Then things got real in the 7th grade. I remember the day exactly. Behind the PE building I ran up to little shy Emily Erwin and proudly asked her if she knew my name. "Ummm ..." she responded. Looking back I cringe at that memory, but thankful for it because SIXTEEN years later Emily Erwin - now Sadler - is still my bff. 

In high school we had our ups and downs (roller coaster of a year is what I wrote in Em's yearbook two or maybe three or maybe every year in a row) ... were were bff, then enemies, then frenemies, then bffs again. You know, a typical high school friendship.

Hotties, right?

We went to college in different cities, had different experiences, but still remained friends. When I moved back home from college and when that silly boyfriend of mine broke my heart, she was there for me, distracting me from all that stupid heartbreak.

We had a year or so where we didn't talk (prob one of the saddest years of my life), and we had to learn how to fix our friendship. It's hard being friends for so long and learning new boundaries, that you maybe have grown apart, and to not take everything so personally. 

And right when everything was getting just so perfect, she dropped a bomb on me: she and her hubs were moving to NOLA. Now, let me remind you that Emily has always talked about moving. I think since we became friends at the tender age of 12 she always told me it was a matter of time before she would be out of Shreveport. So, this past time when she said she and Derek were packing up and moving to New Orleans, it didn't really sink in until their going away party.

As I watched the slide show that Em's friend Alissa put together, I lost it. In public. Crying non-stop in front of tons of people as pics of Em and D played out in front of us. I think I was probably more upset about that year we didn't talk. I saw all the memories I missed out on even though I know we needed that time away from each other. After I reapplied my face, gulped down a marg, and gave Emily a hug (something that never happens - she is one of those "personal space people"), it hit me that my friend was for reals leaving me for a new town.

Since I'm a slacker, it's been almost five months since she's left, and I've already spent two fun weekends visiting her new home.

Here's to fun friendly weekends and exploring her new town (and all the food in it)!