meghawoman's musings: snapshots of friends

I am so blessed!

I have so many wonderful, wonderful friends.

The down-side of this fact is that they are all scattered around the globe, and I am so, so lonely in Calgary. Generally they are not in visiting distance, with some exceptions (like Nynke! who is visiting me in Calgary in September). But for the most part, the physical distance remains and we are forced to maintain our friendships on a technological basis.

Recently I have been able to see a lot of my friends again. One of the joys of coming back to Ontario is that many of my friends are a lot closer. Still not an easy distance, but much more accomodating than Calgary, for instance.

The other night Roz, BethL and I hung out at Roz's house. It was so good to spend time with these girls again, and share our hearts together. Even some tears, and no, it wasn't just me. I found that time to be so healing and very special. I am so blessed to have these wonderful friends with whom I can pick up where we left off. We've been friends for so many years, and it's amazing that we're still so close (when we have the chance). I would say that Roz definitely gets the prize among the three of us for keeping in touch, since she does physical things like cards in the mail. Quite impressive. But it's so nice to know that those life-lines are intact and available.

Yesterday I went to Nate and Jess's wedding.

Left at 7:30 am and got there at 2. Unfortunately, their wedding started at 1, so I totally missed the whole thing. I was sitting at the border from 11:30 til 1:10. Brutal. I was really disappointed, BUT it didn't really matter because I got to see my friends again! I showed up when they were taking pictures, so I sneaked in and changed. Love that I showed up to their wedding in shorts. smooth.

Nate and I realized that we hadn't seen each other in over two years! And he is still one of my best friends. So cool.

I also got to see Collin

again, which was great since I'm pretty sure we haven't talked at all since we last saw each other. Also at my table was Katie Radel,

Missy Pukalo,

Heather Potolsky,

and Liz

and her husband Pat,

who I'd never met before. It was nice to catch up with everyone, even just briefly.

And of course, I got to see Peter

and Jon

(wow, I just realized I almost look like I'm not wearing anything in that pic with Jon)
and Holley.

They are such great friends, and it's never long enough when I get to see them. Brief moments don't cut it...although they are precious and I am thankful for them. I just wish they could be longer.

I had to leave the reception early because Josh and I

had planned on meeting in Niagara Falls at 6:30. I was an hour late (seemed to be my theme of the day) partially because I left Nate's wedding late, and partially because for some strange, unknown reason, people in upstate New York appear to enjoy driving below the speed limit. If it is 55, please, don't go 30! (that's like doing 50 in a 90 zone in km). It is painful, especially when I'm late. I don't usually get road rage, but I was very tempted to honk at the stupid drivers. Anyways, I eventually made it to Niagara and met Josh (and I still don't know how to hear the voicemails he left me. I'm so not a cell phone person at all) and so that was nice. Only I was still in my dress from the wedding, which made me super over dressed. Oh well. Made up for that by making a scary face...notice that my one eye is looking directly at the camera and only one is crossed. (Josh, I didn't put this up on facebook, just my blog, teehee)

Today I got to see Steve and Daryn at church, which is great cuz I haven't seen them in a while either! It's so crazy that Daryn's going to Yale. Smart kid I tell you. They both are...look out world! We took some random pictures outside and pretended to be a family. Steve and I are the parents, BethL and Daryn are supposed to be our children, and my brother is supposed to be our dog,