Two of my closest friends have moved.

You think you’d get used to it, you know. People walking in and out of your life. It’s part of life, especially that of a military kid. You move, you meet people, you love people, you leave people, you start over.  It should get easier, shouldn’t it?  The pain of separation should lessen. After all, it happens all the time. We should be used to it, right?

It doesn’t happen. That pain doesn’t lessen at all. But it’s always worth it in the end. Every time. You never regret getting close because the memories you create make the ache worth it all.

Like the time we threw a Secret Santa party and all had to dress up “Christmas-y” for it.

Or the time Cliffy and Chris and I sat in the park listening to music randomly.

Or how Matt and Gabe would take these balls of sand home and stick them in the freezer just so they could carry them back the next day to make them bigger. This lasted about 2 weeks.

Numerous bowling trips.

Many beach days.

Countless memories.

Yeah, they’ve moved across the county and are living in the big apple now. But that doesn’t mean our friendships are over. Each of us still carry these memories, even as we all grow up and continue our lives. We will never forget our good times, or the ways we have impacted one another over the last year.

They say that friends are the family we choose for ourselves.

So long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart, I shall say that life is good.
- Helen Keller

*sigh*

Life is hard sometimes.

I’m sorry Wally. Fairwell. You’ve no idea how much I miss you.

Victoria finally made her entrance with Julia, and within 5 minutes, the rest of the Whites walked in the door.
Andrew ran off to find my brothers who were having a great time destroying Danny and Aaron’s room while Spencer talked to Danny in the living room.

After a while, we had lots if pancakes made and eggs were on the way, so it was time to make the bacon. Aaron’s job. Which turned into Aaron’s and my job. Which turned into Aaron’s, Victoria’s, and my job.
I suppose I should start when it was simply Aaron’s job, which didn’t last very long, which is a good thing for the consumers of the bacon.
“Aaron, what are you doing? You can’t microwave bacon!” I said as I teasingly shook my head back and forth in disapproval.
“That’s why I’m getting out the pan!”
“Okay good. Just making sure you aren’t ruining our food.”
“Aww come on, you can trust me with your food, right! You trust me!” Aaron said as he put on this goofy grin.
I replied with a blank stare. “Yeaaaaah. I’m just gonna stand right here.” I said, leaning against the counter next the stove.
“Fine.” he said as he turned back to the bacon that was now in the pan, faking a frown.
I glanced over to see Jessica and Katy attempting to make eggs on the skillet.
“So is bacon good crispy or bendy? Look at this bacon from the microwave! Katy told me to cook it that way; bacon isn’t supposed to do this!” he said as he held out a piece of bacon and it flopped over. “It should stay out straight! Right?”
“Yes!! Floppy bacon is no good!” I said, pretending it was a very serious matter.
“Yes! Thank you!” Aaron said with satisfaction.

Many things occured in the process of cooking the bacon, but since I know that no one wants to spend the next hour reading every detail about the day, I shall skip the casual conversation and get right to the action.
“Umm Aaron…are you wearing oven mitts while cooking bacon?” I asked as I returned from talking to Katy on the opposite side of the kitchen.
“Well the bacon’s oil is trying to kill me! I must protect myself!”
“Have you ever tried turning down the heat?” I asked as I reached over the boiling oil vat which contained a small slice of bacon in it to turn the heat down. “Or have you ever heard of being tough? Seriously!” I said as I laughed at his rediculous protection gear.

Aaron gave me the look, and went back to cooking the bacon. I’m not quite sure how Victoria came into this, but I think that she thought that Aaron was going too slow so she, to speed things up, decided to microwave bacon also.  So in the end we had three people working on the bacon: Victoria with the microwave, Aaron with the pan, and I with my scrutinizingness, making sure that Aaron didn’t burn the house down.
After about an hour, or more(I can’t remember exactly), breakfast was finally ready and we had a nice selection of food- Grits, eggs, bacon, pancakes, and banana bread. My parents arrived from doing some last minute work as we got all the kiddos served.

Eventually us teenagers got our food and settled down in the family room for a nice, quiet, and relaxful meal. YEAH RIGHT! We were all laughing our heads off the entire time, barely eating at all! I only ended up getting buried in pillows, which Aaron, Danny, and Spencer shoved onto me, despite my protesting. I laughed as the pressure of three guys shoving pillows on me stopped and I noticed I had this tiny little hole in the middle to peek through. Haha!

After eating, we all got together for the girls favorite thing and the guys least favorite thing; pictures.

Thanks to Katy’s great idea, we did a pyramid also!

Danny and Aaron had to leave right before we did to do lawns, so after an awkward moment of not really knowing how exactly to say goodbye, Aaron suddenly yanked Katy over and put her between me and him…a Christian homeschooler hug.

It was quite surprising, but brilliant, I must say! Of course I had to “homeschool” hug the other guys-

After the homeschool hugs, us girls all said our farewells, too.
Of course, with Victoria we had to do the dramatics.

 

And then with Katy…

And Jessica.

That last morning was so much fun. Aaron; thanks for the idea! Thank you McCurdys for being so generous and offering your house! Thank you Whites for…being cool! Love y’all!