when best friends go away...

tonite has been a tough night for me. ian and i just got home from a going-away party. a party for friends - for a family - who have meant so much to me over the last 9 years...

i first met kathy in october of 1998. i was in grad school and had just landed a great internship. she and her husband greg had just moved to colorado fresh off a year in australia working on the venues for the summer olympics. kathy and i got along, but we weren't close at first - although i respected her from the moment i met her.

fast-forward a couple years. when my boss left our former place of employment and started his own firm, kathy and i were the first to join him, and did on the same day. she and i lived through a lot of work before she left the office a couple years ago...

but my friendship with kathy and greg so far surpasses that. they were two of the few that i still keep in touch with who were at my wedding. kathy is (literally) responsible for my addiction to gardening. kathy and greg were always an integral part of the supper club that we had going for a while. kathy was my lunch companion for years. they were the ultimate dog-sitters, and picked up our pup the night that ian was born (and, hence, were the first to know that ian was on his way into this world). they were there when we buried blu. and they were the first (and only) i called when i discovered k's cheating. for nine years, kathy and greg have been by my side through good and bad...

and now they leave. they're going home - within spitting distance of both families, and armed with some adorable twins. i'd be the biggest, most inconsiderate jerk if i didn't support them. of course i do. they need this. and i've been bracing for this for a while, but still...

for me, this sucks. two people who have been by my side through all the good and the pain of the last 9 years - they're leaving. i've gotten used to people close to me going away, but this is different. because kathy and greg - they are part of me. they are part of that community that i wrote about in my last post. that community that is small and shrinking...

as i wept tonite as we drove away from the party, ian asked me if i was sad. yes, sweetie, i am sad. i'm not, daddy - he said. because he knows only happy times spent with them. and through my child's eyes i realized what we need to hold on to. the happiness of times spent with good friends. because we're not given an infinite amount of time, we have to cherish the times that we have...