This is such an exciting age of our lives. Young parents still figuring out how to be parents to our ever-changing kids and all the rewards that come with that. We're coming to the end of our time in the grad school portion of our lives and soon will be moving on to the next steps of our lives.
The hard part about being at this stage of our lives is that most of our friends are at this stage too, and unfortunately we don't all get to move on to the next step of our school/career/family journey at the same time.
We were so lucky to move into our ward at the time that we did. There were 6 or so other couples that had moved in within about a year before we did. Two of those were within 2 weeks of us moving in. All of us had 1 or 2 kids all around the exact same age. It's been such an amazing support and strength to us here in Santa Cruz.
And slowly over that past 3 and a half years they've slowly moved away one by one. On to the next steps. It's always bittersweet because you're SO excited for them and their next adventure and you stay connected through social media and what not, but it's also always sad to see them go. Always.
And most recent to move on mid-December were the Hewitts.
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| Disneyland - May 2014 |
They're our buddies. Grant is Lydia's age. The twins just a few weeks older than James. When we first moved into this ward they lived in our complex, then they moved into a different area in our ward for a couple years, then back to our complex for the last 9 months they lived here just a few doors down from us.
Since the time Lydia could talk she's said she is going to marry Grant someday :) It's been so fun to watch their friendship grow. They've gone from babies and toddlers doing little more than playing next to each other to now they're preschoolers playing and pretending with each other. And living just a few doors down has given the kids the freedom to play together at our house, their house, or outside nearly all day any day they wanted as well as going to the same preschool. Lydia lost one of her best pals when they moved, but she is so excited to send him letters and she knows that we hope to visit them within a year or 2.
The day before they left all the kids spent the day at our place while Kris, Will, and helpers finished packing and cleaning their place. Then that night they stayed the night before heading out bright and early the next morning. This gave Kris and I one last night of chatting til late into the night.
Holy cow I miss this girl so much already! We've experienced so much together. She's helped me through the before and after of my surgery, postpartum depression, and we made the jump to 3 kids together and all the trials and joys that brought both of us. We laughed to the point of tears many times and cried to each other when life wasn't so happy. At times we fought like sisters, but we loved each other like sisters too. Spencer W. Kimball said, "God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs" and Kris and Will met our needs time and time again.
After saying goodbye I was sitting on the couch crying when Lydia woke up and came into the room.
Lydia: Mom, why are you crying?
Me: Because I just said goodbye to my friends.
Lydia: It's okay. You still have me, and I'm the funnest person ever.
Can't stay sad for too long with that kind of support ;)
Farewell Hewitts! Good luck with your new adventure!
