I Miss My Best Friend and She Just Left!

If you read my blog much, you know that my friend Danise is very special to me.  She and I met when we were first year teachers, and our friendship has endured through divorce (mine), babies, and moves (them, all the way across the country).  For many years, I was single (after the divorce) and I flew out to see them at least once a year, usually in the summer (I'm a teacher) and I would stay for about 2 weeks or so.  At first, we did some touristy things, like visiting different parks and things, but over the years, it's become much more low-key.  And now that I have Karina, I can't afford to go out as much, and when I did the last time ( when Karina was 9 months old) she got strep throat.  Fun.  We were only there a week, and most of it was spent dealing with sick children (because of course she gave it to the other kids). 

On April 8th, they all came out here to visit for the first time since they moved back to their home state 9 years ago!  Danise has been out twice, for my wedding and Karina's birth, but they were both short visits, and it was just her.  This time, they all came!  It was great (but I actually wished for a bigger car for the first time ever, so we could all have ridden together...but we made it work).  We went to an air and space museum, Jamestown, Williamsburg, and an aquarium in the first four days.  Then, on Thursday, Karina woke up very congested and threw up all over me.  Seriously?  Again?  It was allergies, but she was very sick all day, and for three days I kept her in.  So I missed Paige's birthday tea and another day of Jamestown, too.  The first day when she was very sick, Danise stayed home with me and the kids and Marc went fishing. 

Karina got feeling better after being out of the pollen for a while, so we were able to go to Yorktown with them, and today she and the kids played all day.  Since their flight was at 6pm, we had most of the day to be together.  Danise and I got to have tea on the porch while Marc took the kids to a fishing store and Karina napped.  When she woke up and they came home, it was time to get ready to leave for the airport.  Karina wanted to go, so I let her.  I thought it would be good for her to see that they were not coming back with us.  She just loved having them around.  She would go up to Colin and pat him or hug him.  She followed Paige around all day one day.  She begged Marc to hold her hand and "walk, walk" with her. 

Danise and I watched "Holmes Inspection" both Sunday nights (because we were too late to see "Holmes on Homes" too, which comes on before it) in my bedroom and talked.  That was great, too.  All the kids and I took a walk around the block together one day.  Bill played catch with Colin in our backyard.  We have a big backyard, and they don't.  Being in the southwest, the yards are small and don't have much grass.  So if they play catch, and miss, the ball is over the fence.  Even when Colin was little, he was good at baseball and could hit a whiffle ball out of the yard.

Now that they are gone, and the house is so quiet, I am really missing them.  Danise did  so well while she was here.  Instead of wearing the strange glasses they wanted her to wear, she just took out one contact lens.  She said she hasn't been able to see so well in months, since they started trying to "fix" her eyes.  And when her allergies started acting up, too, she took some allergy relief medicine that starts with a B and is very popular, and told me she felt like she could think clearly for the first time in ages.  She is calling her doctors when she gets home to see what this means or if it could be a clue to what's going on in her brain (if you don't know, she was in a bad car accident; see posts here and here).  Overall it was very promising, and aside from one bad afternoon (after Williamsburg), she was great.  She and the kids still have Celiac disease, and her blood pressure is still a problem, but she said that being here had made a world of difference.  She feels like her little well of strength is replenished (her words).  I'm so glad.  She and Paige are supposed to come back in July, and I can't wait. 

I hate when we have to leave each other.  It is so hard.  I wish every day that they hadn't had to move away, or that we could somehow live closer.  And I know that in a few days I'll be fine and seeing the spare room won't make me cry anymore, but right now it's just rotten stinky that she's gone.