A Little Nostalgia

I seem to have major revelations about my life during the few hours I spend ignoring the to do list and spending time with a cherished friend. Tonight Erin and I went to see Sex and the City 2. We had planned this get-together from the time we both heard the movie was coming out and tonight's outing happened to coincide with Erin's moving weekend. After nearly two years in Spokane, my bestie is moving back to Beaverton. Although we haven't seen each other nearly as often as I'd imagined, we have the kind of friendship that carries on and we both know that the other will be there in a second if a need arises (ahem, like when one has appendicitis requiring a trip to the ER in the middle of the night). Erin departs Spokane with a master's degree in school counseling and an engagement ring and I am thrilled for her about both. We've spent several hours in the last few weeks talking about wedding plans, but until this evening I hadn't really sat down and considered the finality of what is to come for us both. I am used to having someone to vent to, laugh with, shop with, and call when the craving for Applebee's appetizers hits. Soon, my bestie, and every other member of my support network, will no longer be accessible at a moment's notice. Nights like tonight will be few and far between. I am feeling sort of left behind, although soon it is I who will be actually doing the leaving.

I can imagine myself in Korea...picture my classroom, my apartment, and see myself learning to navigate the streets of Seoul just as I have learned to get around Paris or London in a short amount of time. This time, however, I will be doing it alone and that is difficult to process. Though my life is not anything like Carrie Bradshaw or Charlotte York, I feel the same sort of sisterly camaraderie with my closest friends and it saddens me to know that it will take a great deal of time to build friendships like that again.