Laurz' Ramblings

We knew the time would come when we would have to say goodbye to the Elmores.  It came faster than we expected or had hoped. It isn't very often that you find a family that both spouses get along with both spouses, but this is what we had in the Elmores.

When Amy and I met for the first time it was at Bunco 6 years ago before she had even moved to Ohio.  I didn't know who she was then or even talk with her much then.  The next time we officially met was when I was on bed rest with Sienna.  I needed a haircut in a bad way but couldn't go anywhere so Jenn Orme mentioned Amy and she agreed to come to my house and cut my hair.  After that we see each other at card club and other group activities and she would do my hair.  I remember the last time we saw them in Ohio very clearly.  We had a few families over to our house for one last batch of Brent's cobbler before we moved and the Elmores were one of the only families still there.  Hunter and Kayla had hit if off, Brent and Spencer were talking animatedly and Amy and I were chatting and I remember as they stood to go the thought clearly entered my mind, "In another time and place we could be really good friends."  I felt a surprising sense of sadness as we said goodbye to them that night, as if we had missed out on a great friendship that should have been.  I even told Brent about it that night.  I felt very strongly that Amy and I could have been really great friends.

Was it foreshadowing? It must have been.  When the Elmores moved to Colorado Springs I hoped they would live near by.  I would say that 4 houses down would qualify. It was from the very beginning, the very first day they arrived that we had something special.  We had something that not everyone finds even once in a lifetime.  We found great, great friends in Ohio, but there were so many that we almost took it for granted.  To find that kind of friendship outside of the school atmosphere and outside of Ohio was such a pleasant surprise.

The last two years with the Elmores have been just that.  The Elmores.  We have done nearly everything together from our first trip to Breckenridge to our last trip to Mexico.  We will truly miss them.

On the day it came time to say goodbye, Elsie's Birthday, there were tears shed by many which was of no surprise.  I was shocked however to hear Brent's voice choked up as he told Sienna to wave goodbye, and then as I looked at him I saw the tears in his eyes. I can remember only a select few times in our marriage that Brent has cried(when he thought his Grandpa wouldn't make it out of the hospital, and when each of our children were born) so it was then that I knew this was serious.  It was real.  I asked Brent if he was crying and he choked out, "Yes, I can't watch Sienna so upset."  It was then that I realized that Sienna was silently sobbing.  I grabbed her and we plunked down on the grass and cried together as I held her and buried my face in her hair.

I would like to end there because that is where our feeling still are but life goes on.  I left the next day for Utah to help Katie with her new baby and the kids went through withdrawals without me but with the babysitter.  It really didn't hit me that our friends were no longer near us until Katie was talking on the phone to her friend Kandice that lives in Ohio.  Kandice told Katie that she was watching Kayla, Avery and Evan and it was then that the pang hit.  They really were in Ohio and not Colorado.

So as I get fatter just realize that I not only lost my workout partner but my sounding board as well, so my need for chocolate will no  doubt increase.