Day 9

We are so lucky as a family to have such great friends! I know that from my adult life I have made friends that I plan to sit on a front porch with, drinking a long island iced tea (I'm old so I can drink like a fish than) and still laugh with each other as much as we do now.
Yet as a Mom, I sometimes wonder if in this military life we have, will the girls still be able to make such strong bonds?

My answer today came in the mailbox. The girls got a package from their friends. These two are also sisters and the same age as mine. They were in every sense best friends, or BFF's if I wanna sound like a mom in the know. The girls had sent my two a trinket of their friendships in the form of a bracelet or necklace. This act of kindness really touched my heart. I am glad to know that the girls can have friendships that span miles and months. And while they haven't spoken to one another since we left California, it made their day knowing that these two friends had thought of them as much as they had thought of them! You see I have been picking up beads...little beads, big beads, fancy charms and more from my carpet for weeks, as everyday my two come home and start an assembly line of necklaces, bracelets and key chains to send to all their friends back 'home' and to be given to all the new friends they are making now.

It amazes me how such a small thoughtful gesture can really turn someones day around. The girls have been smiling all afternoon, enthralled with the fact they have not been forgotten.
I had been having a hard day. Missing my dearest friendships, not diggin the three hour time difference between us all and well, frankly feeling very lonely. I don't have someone to have lunch or coffee with, or even movie dates anymore. I know it takes time to connect and make the same bond with people as I did with all my friends at our other bases. I know that soon I will make more great friends as time goes on here. But I wanted all my Ethel's ( you see I am Lucy cause usually I am scheming with some master plan) to know I haven't forgotten you. And while I think we have all left the age where we can wear Best Friends bracelets or necklaces...I totally want you all to virtually wear the other half of the one below. (Nicole was not going to let me borrow it but I told her we weren't really going to wear it, we were going to virtually wear it and she kinda rolled her eyes at me and said 'whatever, sounds a little weird to me mom').
So please...send a friend who is far away a "hi" and a virtual necklace. It really does make the day brighter!

Friends!