Missing my girlfriends already...

I have always been blessed with an abundance of friends...great friends, in fact. Friends that support me no matter what I do. James and I have two couples that we will miss terribly. The six of us have had some really silly, fun times together. Jeff and Tammy Cleckler and Holly and Carl Leatherman are the kind of friends that you pray you will find. Tammy and Holly used to teach fourth grade with me, back in the days when I was teaching. We formed a close bond for lots of reasons, and we found out very quickly that our husbands also liked to hang out together. We spent many weekends at the Island together, enjoying the now defunct bed and breakfast, Casa de Siesta. The men loved to horse around in the pool and eat at Dirty Al's...wait, they still love to do that. The three women that belong( kinda) to these men are so happy that our men get along and have become best friends. For the past 8 years, the six of us have spent many a fun time together. We make a real effort to keep our friendship together. This past week, Holly and Tammy and I had two nights together on the Island. In fact, the Clecklers and James and I have rented side by side condos for the month of June, just so the boys can be together. We are going on a dinner cruise on a big ole sailboat on Thursday of this coming week, and we will laugh and share memories of our happy times together. When James and I decided to move to Juneau, one of the big hurdles we faced was leaving our family and friends. We will miss our friends...we will try to Skype and FaceTime each other and have promised to keep in touch, but we all know that things will never really be the same again. James and I pray that our friends will come see us in Juneau. Through thick and thin, and all the in-betweens, our friends have been there. They were our rocks, when my dad was so sick. They kept me sane when I broke my back, and they helped us out when Hurricane Dolly destroyed our home. Christmas parties and lake gatherings, Algodon Balls and weekly dinners, birthday celebrations and girl luncheons...we have done all of those things TOGETHER, because we have so darn much fun when we are with each other . They are the friends that everyone deserves to have, and we have been so beyond blessed to have them as a big part of our lives. I try not to cry when I think of these friends and how much I will miss them. So when we finally leave for Juneau, I will say "see ya real soon", and not goodbye...