Annie...

My sweet friend, Annie is moving away...far away.  This has been a hard one!  Annie and I connected the minute that we met each other on our very first day in Young Womens together.  We'd never even seen each other before that moment.  BUT.  As time passed, we soon discovered that we had crossed paths many times in the past twenty years.  Annie was at one of Liza's bridal showers.  We both had been at many social gatherings through the years and we know so many of the same people.  She's about as shy as me.  So whenever the two of us went anyplace together, it was always a lot of stopping and talking with mutual friends.  Her husband, Corey, was one of Buddy's Sunday School teachers when he was a teen.  Crazy how we had crossed paths and sadly, never connected before we did two years ago.

We have been called Thelma and Louise.  Our Bishop sees us and says, "Here comes trouble!"  The Sonic employees call us trouble.  We are known by our husbands as trouble.  And the funny thing is that we never get into trouble...Well... except the time we brought bales of hay into the cultural hall at church and the time that we... well, maybe we did do a few things to deserve the title. But, we did clean it up!  And the girls in YW always teased, "Do we need to separate the two of you?!" because we did giggle and talk a bit.  Oh, how I've grown to love this kindred spirit and oh, how my heart aches that she is gone! 

Her husband got a fabulous offer to leave USU and go to Cornell University to do his magic there!  AND best of all, Ann's family are from the NY area, so she will be close to them for the first time in almost thirty years.  So, who could not be happy for them!?  I prayed for them to get this job, knowing that it would mean they would leave us.  The girls adore them.  Quayd just loves Corey.  Doug thinks they are more than amazing.  They will be greatly missed.

For the past two days, I have been their "moving agent".  I've spent two days at their home, as the movers and packers came to load their whole life into a giant Semi-truck. The emptier their home became, the emptier my heart became.  I teased Annie, "You choose the day my dad is cremated to leave me!?"  The timing was awful, but there would have been no timing that would have been good.  I remember the times I have moved away and left close friends... so excited for our new beginnings but so sad to say goodbye.   

Quayd has slept here at night to keep watch on the house until the movers were done.  The first night, he and a former missionary companion stayed up watching movies and playing X-box.  Last night, the girls slept over with him and they had a little game time too.  It's not something that happens much at home, so they loved it.  I've enjoyed being here and taking some downtime to blog and think about life.

We have face-timed several times a day as they travel across the country.  Today, they are in Ohio.  They are getting close.  My heart!  BUT, I will now have a reason to travel to New York! 

We've been uber impressed with United Moving Company, as they have packed and loaded.  I've enjoyed their incredible backyard view of the country club golf course.  THIS would have been hard to leave too!  We spent part of Sunday afternoon in the backyard and there was not a leaf on the ground.  Fall has arrived in all it's glory.  Corey and Annie are getting out before the Utah winter sneaks in!

I could not be any more thankful for the love and good times that I've been able to share with this wonderful friend.  Many friends and ward members have asked, "How will you get by without Ann?!?"  Truth is... I'm not sure myself.  But, I will celebrate their new beginning!  Life is good!