No Distance Too Far

All of a sudden, it feels like everything is changing. I've been hoping, praying, wishing and waiting for it all to happen for so long, and now it finally is. Parts of it are fantastic,... but parts are bittersweet.

I found out yesterday that Bailey got a job and is moving to Washington, DC in three weeks. While we were in college, I got used to not seeing her as much as I would like, and looked forward to road trips between Starkville and Auburn. Since January, however, she's been back in Columbus, and our weekly lunch dates are always one of the highlights of my week. It's been so great to make up for just a little bit of that lost time. From the time that she and Sage got engaged, I have loved getting to hear about all of the wedding updates and the things that are changing in their lives. Our weekly meetings will quickly come to a close, and, although I could not be happier for this new opportunity in her life, I will miss our time together.

On Monday, Nick and I drove a U-Haul filled with furniture from my grandmother's house in south Mississippi to Starkville. (It was quite an adventure, let me assure you. If Nick and I weren't already going to be friends forever, I think that day sealed the deal.) During that time, we talked a lot about friends we have lost touch with and the way our lives have changed, especially over the past year or so. It's just so much harder to keep in touch with friends when you add in the factors of jobs, serious boyfriends/girlfriends/spouses, running a household and, the one that seems to plague me most, DISTANCE. I wish I could stumble onto a bag filled with nothing but plane tickets that have no expiration date. What a dream that would be...

As I look toward the few remaining days before my final move to Starkville, I think of a few things I am going to make a conscious effort to include in my life. I almost look at this transition as worthy of New Year's resolutions, as ridiculous as that may sound. (Yes, I am one of those people who, year after year, makes resolutions to do things differently. If you know me well, that should come as no surprise.) One of New School Year resolutions for 2008 is to keep in better touch with my friends, who mean the absolute world to me. Be it through e-mail, telephone calls, facebook, g-chat or, my very favorite form of communication, however archaic and Pony Express-like it may be, handwritten notes. Quite often, the things for which I have to work the hardest are the things that come to mean the most to me in the end. For my friends, for the people I love, I'm willing to work as hard as I have to.

Just FYI: the picture featured in this post is of Bailey and I during our senior year of high school. We were at the cast party for "Footloose: The Musical" (no, I didn't generally wear blue eyeshadow, gigantic hoop earrings or side-ponytails), and I believe we frequently snuck outside during this party to drink red wine coolers. As you can see, we were the epitome of cool.