Well…she did it. She up and left me. She said she was going to, but part of me chose not to believe it. We spent every chance we got with them – usually eating (Kotta, Sullivan's, etc.). Then the dreaded departure this past Monday started to get closer…and closer, and it hit me. She was really going to leave! And the tears came and didn't leave. In fact, I think this is the first day that I can talk about it without crying the ugly cry (only misting as I write).
12 years ago I moved to this town with a big dream of settling down and making friends and planting roots – me and my husband and my little 6-month old Jacob. Derek was my best friend, of course. But beyond that I had lots of acquintances and people that I liked a whole lot but who I wouldn't consider close friends. Jason, who had been a close friend, had died the year before and I was searching for that kind of friendship again. In fact, I remember saying a very specific prayer several times requesting that I might be able to find a GOOD friend – a deep friend – the kind you can share your secrets with (who am I kidding, I'm an open book, I have no secrets).
A few months after we moved here I was asked to accept a calling at church – to be the 1st Counselor in the YW organization. I was thrilled! I couldn't wait to work with the girls. And I asked "who is the President that I'll be working with?". And the bishop said, "Dana Hicken, do you know her?" NO! I knew her name, but that was it. So later that day I walked down the hall and walked up to a cute blonde with a tailored black and white houndstooth jacket who was holding her baby and said "Hi, I'm Meredith"…and the rest is history.
She was the answer to that prayer. And eventually our husbands came along and became friends. And then she introduced me to Shelley and the rest of the Dalebouts and we became the Hicken-Smith-Dalebout Clan. And we started to travel together (Florida Keys, Hawaii, Canada, NYC, etc). And I grew to love her kids like they were my own. And they introduced us to sushi! And to nice hotels! And we sat in her living room and listened to our favorite singer sing to US. And we celebrated NYEve together almost every year. And we went to Girls Camp together (lots of girls camp). And we swam in the summer A LOT. And we laughed A LOT (in fact, one of my favorite things to do in the whole world is to make her laugh!). And we spent General Conference Sundays together. And we attended scrapbook conventions together (as an excuse to get a way). And we ran half marathons together. And we had girls' lunches together. And we made a whole lot of memories and took a whole lot of pictures.
And then she just up'ed and left. And it broke my heart. But we're buddies and pals and BFF's so I have to support and be happy for her…because that's the rules, even though I don't like it. And even though I wish she would come back and I wish the Smith's and Dalebout's were enough to keep them here, I have to accept that they're gone. To live in a big fancy house with views of the mountains and horses and snow and seasons and love and family.
But I know, truly I know, that 1,320 miles (ONE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED TWENTY?!) won't change the fact that she was the answer to my prayer. And that we are inseparably connected by love (mushy as that may sound).
So…here's to Dana…and her new house in the mountains (that I will be visiting often and perhaps even camping out at for long periods of time).
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