The one where I talk about Colleen.

When Sean and I relocated from Albany NY to Pennsylvania my biggest dread was not leaving my great job or even our first house together. My biggest dread was leaving my best friend. Colleen and I met in college and funnily enough we were not great friends.

We were friendly but did not hang out in the same circle.

This all changed when our class went to Aruba. Colleen and I had the same major so we were in classes together which is where our friendliness began. We both decided to take the class that would allow us to go to Aruba for 10 days. I mean, if you could you made sure you got into this class. It was on this trip where we basically became friends. I remember laughing so hard and just enjoying being in her company because she was my kind of crazy.

The thing is that when we went back to school we went back to the way things were.
We had a connection now but still were not the friends we are today.

Fast forward to when she decides to move to Albany and gets in touch with me when she remembers that I also had moved to Albany after college. Our friendship soon began and boy did we have the best times together. We were inseparable. We went to the gym every day after work together, we grocery & clothes shopped together, cooked huge pasta meals after a workout together, went out dancing together, etc. We just loved being in each other’s company.

We felt pretty lucky that we had each other and we had all these plans. When Colleen married Eric and they bought their first home I remember us talking about all the time we would spend in her backyard because it is so beautifully done. We talked about our kids growing up together and being the best of friends. We basically had our lives planned out. Oh I think I should also mention that we had plans to be pregnant together. It wasn’t very long that Colleen was in her new house that Sean got his new job and we were planning to leave our old lives behind. They say you make plans and God laughs.

I wasn’t worried that Colleen and I would lose touch because we’ve been through way too much together to do that, but I knew that we would be missing out on that everyday life. The being able to stop by whenever the desire hit. The dinners and shopping whenever. That ease of the whenever would be gone.

Although we no longer live a mere few minutes away from each other we have still managed to keep our friendship alive.

Colleen came with her family to visit Sean and I a few weekends ago and she came bearing a birthday gift for me. A camera ornament and a necklace that reads “It is Well with My Soul”. If you read my blog you know the meaning behind this and let's just say that I was overwhelmed with her thoughtfulness. How I snagged the best friend in the entire world is beyond me. I was so happy when I received it that surprisingly I did not cry. Of course, after she and her family left, I cried. Haha. Go figure.

This is just a small example of the type of friend that Colleen is to me and I am really looking forward to us growing old together. I can picture us in our styling orthopedic shoes and fly grey hair just laughing together.

We were able to have what we like to call, Colleen and Faithy time that weekend. It was much needed.
We talked and talked and the time just flew by so quickly.

This weekend around we were happy with an early lunch, brunch at a cozy restaurant, and not getting dressed to go out for a crazy night. Instead we were settling in for the night with pizza, snacks and wine. Best part is that there was actually a baby monitor on the table. A baby monitor? Tell me it ain’t so, ha. But seriously, when did this happen?

But you know what? I’m so happy that we’ve gone through so much of our growing up together. We are not the same people we were but in some ways we are, if that makes any sense. I think for me Colleen will always be that girl, dancing on the bar in Aruba, with her hot pink pants and bleach blonde hair that made me think, I so would like to be her friend.