the end of a decade

What a Mother's Day.

Gorgeous, even with a bit of a chilly wind. Good friends, good food. One last hurrah with our bestest buddies of the past decade. *sigh* Definitely not-to-be-forgotten.

My best friend and her family is moving to Hawai'i next month. We were stationed together in the United Queendom for three years, and became very close friends. Then their follow-on assignment just happened to land them here - where we landed. So for the better part of the past eight years we have been virtually inseparable. We have decorated and painted each other's properties. We have inspired and been inspired by each other. We have watched each other's children meet milestone after milestone. First words, steps, pigtails, bike rides, days of school, arguments & make-ups. We have scrapped together, leaned on each other, baked together, vented about our husbands to each other, and most of all learned from each other. I'm going to miss her so much.

We all keep joking about next summer when my family will take a cruise to Hawai'i to visit them, but I have a deathly fear of water to overcome. And a big fat vacation fund to fund before that can happen. Our kids don't remember what life was before we met. In fact, five of the six kids in our two families were born during our friendship. We have slumber party weekends which involve all 10 of us sleeping under the same roof. Late nights with lots of laughs and cards into the wee hours. Early mornings with kids jumping on beds. Waffles and sausage breakfasts, picnic lunches, sledding in the winter, sunning in the summer, yard sales, trips to the zoo, and in general, lots of merrymaking.

We spent our last Mother's Day together (for a great long while at least), doing what we do best. Mothering together. Three split lips, BBQ chicken & hot dogs, backyard swings, blueberry pie a-la-mode, my school's spring carnival, tearing down a broken shed to get ready for a new one, water bottles, vanilla sprinkle cookies, burning up dried weeds and fallen winter branches, baseball, huddling quietly watching bunnies play tag in the grass, and a small dose of Dora & Mario Kart, all topped off with hot apple pie last night before they hit the road.

I'm gonna miss her. The rest of them too, but who else will come over and make stromboli and pies with me? Who else likes to do crafts, go on a hike, or read story after story with their kids instead of plopping them in front of the television? Everyone calls me Martha Stewart because I don't serve up instant life from a cardboard box. I make it up as I go and have developed quite a few home-grown recipes of my very own. She is like me so we made great friends. So now it's just me. At least for a few years 'til they come back home again. *sigh*

What a Mother's Day.