Moving Day

I met Jim and Sharon in the summer of 1996. Charlie and I had only been dating for a couple of months. Jim was a co-worker of ours and Sharon was a co-worker of Jim's roommate. The four of us would go out and have a great time. At the time, Sharon was dating someone else who I never met but was supposedly a big jerk. Charlie and I tried to convince Jim he needed to date Sharon, which wasn't a difficult sell because Sharon is so awesome, but first she had to dump the jerk. They had a long history, so it took a while, but that's not really the point of this story.

Eventually, after much back and forth and this and that, Jim and Sharon started dating. So the four of us went out even more. Usually it involved beer. A lot of beer. A lot of big beers. A lot of very big beers. Not that we were getting overly intoxicated, not at all, we were just having a good time with very large glass mugs in our hands. We had a ton of fun. We had a lot of the same interests, we loved to watch sports, and Sharon and I were both from the mid-west. This may not sound like a big deal, but when you live in Texas there really is a difference. She was my first real friend in Texas. I had other friends before I met her, but they were all co-workers. This was my first non-work friend that I could go out with and not talk about work and just have a good time.

After a couple of years, Charlie went to grad school and then Jim went to Argentina on a short-term assignment. So, it was just Sharon and me. We still got together and always had tons to talk about, even without the boys around. Probably because we talked a lot about the boys. Jim dubbed us the Yapper Sisters, because whenever we got together we couldn't stop talking.

Over the years Sharon moved to Nashville and Chicago, but her company was headquartered in Dallas so she always came back. She has moved more times than anybody I know. Because we had grown so close, when Charlie and I got engaged I asked her to be my Maid of Honor. I think she was a little bit surprised. She wasn't my oldest friend, but she was one of my best friends and she was in Dallas going through life with me. Everybody else was so far away. She did a great job, but that's not a surprise.

After Andy was born we drifted apart a little bit, as friends sometimes do. We were just at very different points in our life. I was a new mom, living in the suburbs, trying to figure everything out, while she and Jim were still dating, living in the city, going out and having fun. They didn't understand life with a little one, and I wouldn't expect them to because you never truly understand until you have one yourself, and our lives were so about Andy and the newness of parenting that we had a hard time fitting in for awhile. We still kept in touch, we just didn't see each other as often.

It took them a few years but they finally got married, as we knew they eventually would, and after that came Alex. Now they were experiencing all the things that we had been through. Sharon started calling to ask questions and I was so glad that I could help and that we were finally in similar situations again. We started getting together more often, even meeting once a month for dinner without the kids or husbands, and our friendship grew once more. Then a couple of months after Amanda was born, Sharon had a little girl, Reagan. We were both so excited that after 13 years we had baby girls at the same time that would play together, be friends and be in the same grade.

Unfortunately, we're going to have to put that on hold for a couple of years. At the beginning of the year, Jim received a well overdue and much deserved promotion. The problem is, the job is in London. So, Jim, Sharon, Alex and Reagan are moving to London for the next 2-3 years. I'm jealous of all the wonderful experiences they are going to have and all the travel they will do. Charlie and I have always wanted to live overseas but it has never worked out. There are only a couple of jobs at his company in international locations and even fewer that he is qualified to do. Even more, I am sad that my friends will be so far away. I know it's only a couple of years and we will visit and so will they, but I will miss them dearly. I will miss our monthly dinners, our "can you believe he did this" chats, and the occasional family dinner out in all it's craziness.

They left town today. The movers have taken all of their stuff, the house is sold, they are officially gone. They'll be in the states for another week visiting family and then off to London to start their new adventure. I don't want to rush them and I hope they have a great time, but I hope they hurry home. Amanda and I can't wait for our first playdate.