The unpacking is going pretty well. I’ve been in the zone for three days now and I’m just starting to feel a tiny bit tired. Overwhelmed no, just a little creaky from working hard. I’m loving the challenge of finding a place for everything. I know I can do it and when I’m done this house is going to look sooo good!

Even though everything is messy right now, I have a feeling that this house is going to be very photogenic when it’s done. I love the layout and the charming wood floors. The windows are nice with lots of light and offer great views of their giant backyard. I love how the back deck leans out into the branches of the nearby trees. I don’t have a great photo of that but that’s only because I have been unpacking non-stop. I don’t even like to stop to eat.

Of course we have to stop to eat every once in a while because we have little girls in our company with strong growing bodies who demand that we do so. “Feed the kid!” Bug yells at me from time to time. Don’t worry. Nobody is starving. Bethany is taking good care of us when it comes to eating. She’s making lemon bars right now as I type this! I can’t wait.

We’ve made a couple of trips to IKEA to scout out a new couch and some rugs for Bethany’s house and then back again to pick everything up. Shopping at IKEA is pretty fun (especially when you are helping spend someone else’s money) but it does get a bit tiring when you’ve been there for an hour or three. All the choices seem to run together and you feel a bit like a mouse in a maze going crazy. But I can’t complain because I don’t have to put everything together.

Troy does.

We’re all happy in our zones. Me unpacking…

Bethany cooking and baking…

Me eating…

And the girls doing whatever it is that they do.

We had a great flight with plenty of turbulence to keep things exciting, just how we like it. Bug was a super flight champ. She loves flying just as much as I do. She chattered and exclaimed and was generally happy and delightful during the whole flight.

Here we are in the sun shining in from the airplane window. It was a pretty early flight so we got to experience dawn while sitting in the airplane waiting for it to take off. Good thing both Bug and I are morning people.

What can I say? We were warmly received. Even the weather hasn’t been cold! I might even say it’s the same temperature here that it is at home. What’s up East Coast?! I even brought my winter coat! I wanted to wear it for once in my life. Phooey.

That night, after the girls were in bed, Bethany and I stayed up and unpacked her kitchen. We somehow magically drank the perfect amount of coffee and alcohol and had a little party all by ourselves. I know I’m crazy but I think unpacking is FUN!

The next day we discovered Annalie’s GIANT backyard. Compared to our tiny patio it was like living on a estate. Grass and hills to run on and trees! Oh my! Bug was so happy.

But we had to cut that short because it was Bethany’s birthday and we had people to meet and things to do! First a birthday lunch with Bethany’s friends, who are all very sweet of course and then some pottery painting after that! That’s how Bethany rolls. She didn’t bake herself a cake though. We’ll have to amend that.

Is three days enough time to plan a proper farewell party for your very best friends? I mean a really good party that they’ll remember forever because they are moving so far away that it feels like they are moving to the other side of the earth and you want them to know just how much you are going to miss them? It’s kind of a tall order, right? That’s not nearly enough time to hire a Mariachi band or a sky-writing airplane, or even enough time to write a sonnet!

Then why did we wait until the last minute to plan such a thing? I have no idea. I guess we were in denial. How could they just up and leave us like that? It’s abandonment I tell you! No no no no la la la la sob sob sob…also I’m sort of on party probation since I just hosted the spectacular Seed Rainbow party and I happen to live with someone who isn’t as excited about party-planning as I am (and I’m not referring to Bug).

However they are our best friends and you know what? Best friends just want to hang out with you. They don’t care if your carpet is stained or if your bathroom isn’t sparkling clean. They don’t care if the meal is potluck and they bring the entire dessert course themselves. Coffee is fine, margaritas are nice too, but even tap water will do. Really all that matters is that we get together, all of us, one more time and do what we do best: talk, laugh and enjoy each other’s company.

The thing that kills me is that before Bethany came to live in California I didn’t really have a group of friends like this. I had lots of friends but I didn’t have a group that all hung out together interchangeably. I remember talking late into the night with Bethany over instant message, telling her how I wished I had time to work on my computer or just plain sit with a cup of coffee uninterrupted but I couldn’t because I had a kid who needed my CONSTANT attention.

I remember Bethany telling me that I needed a play-group. I thought she was nuts. It sounded nice and all but I couldn’t put upon my friends like that. They all had their own crazy lives. There’s no way I could just drop in on them and say, “Ack! Can I come over so our kids can play and I can get something else done?”

But then Bethany moved here and in some strange quiet way she built a group of friends for me. It wasn’t so much that she organized a group. Nothing like that was ever said. I’m sure that wasn’t even her plan. It was just her way of sending out emails and not letting dreamed-up plans drop through the cracks. If someone wanted to do something, she was the communicator and it happened. No drama and no excuses for not having fun.

Before I knew it my calendar was covered in penciled dates and times. Not a week went by where I wasn’t going somewhere to meet up with somebody. Our kids got to be friends and now sitting around with a cup of coffee laughing my head off while my kid is off somewhere else in the house laughing her own head off is totally normal. There was a time when I wouldn’t have thought that even was possible. But now it is. Now I have a play-group.

And now she’s leaving! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

Just kidding. I am terribly sad. But in a way I think God sent Bethany out here so I could learn how to be a better friend. And now that I’ve figured it out, I don’t need her anymore. I mean I do, but not in the way I did. I’ll miss her fiercely but there must be somebody else on the East Coast who needs her more. So with a tear in my eye, I will let her go because I remember what it was like before she moved here.

Adios amiga. I’m gonna miss you. I’ll do my best to keep this group together even though sometimes it seems like you are the glue.