college reunion 2011.

lately my blogs have felt so planned. i think about them before i write. not that they have been good lately because they haven't really. it has been a super busy july with not much time to sit in bed while ava naps to write. or sit upstairs during sunset and pour out my heart and what is inside of it. instead this month has been full of what we call...life. camp trips. lack of sleep. family vacations. a busy 18 month old. trying to spend time with justin. alone. it is a rarity for us these days. my heart feels full of so many emotions. thoughts. fears. excitement. all of it. but that is for another day.

today we discuss college. when i moved into my dorm at calvin college i met my five best friends. we lived on the same floor for two years and then lived in a house together for the next two. hope st. full of memories no one can take away from us. when life was full of school. homework. late nights. movies in bethany's bed. boyfriends. grey's anatomy. late night taco bell. confetti cake on your birthday. a sit down meal once a week together in the dining room with horrible teal carpet. walk to the park. to kava to brandywine. our favorite breakfast place. they were some of the best years of my life. we love each other. we had little drama because we genuinely cared for one another. something i know is such a gift and sometimes rare when you put 6 girls in a house.

when we graduated we went our different ways. that is what tends to happen after college and it is sad. it is for sure so sad. but the relationships that mean the most honestly do not depend on the zip code. i moved to kentucky for a boy named justin and graduate school in case the boy did not work out. at least i would get my MSW out of the whole thing. but we all know how that worked out. marriage, a little baby girl, and cancer. beth moved to denver colorado to be a nurse and fall more in love with the outdoors. britt finished up getting her nursing degree, got married, and had a sweet baby girl. karyn moved back to her hometown for a sweet job. married dan a few years later (i missed it last summer due to assignment/first chemo treatment). ruthy got married and headed to fremont. bethany got married and moved to pennsylvania for her husband to go to medical school. it is just what happens.

but we agreed that once a year we get together. no matter what. but because life happens and things come up...we have always celebrated with just five girls not six. but we still celebrate. we drink coffee and make breakfast. watch movies. go white water rafting. or lay out at the pool. or go out for dinner or a little karaoke. or attend a wedding. we have had to watch one anothers lives at a distance. marriages, motherhood, boyfriends, new houses, new jobs, losing a child, getting cancer, losing jobs, heartache, questions about parenting, or what is hard about marriage and what is so so good. we all do not talk all the time. some of us rarely talk or even text. but we know. deep inside that we are all in "this" together. whatever the this maybe. how we have grown and changed and how in the best way possible we are still very much the same. i am thankful for these friends. some of my first calls were to them about my cancer. my first  "you have cancer but here are some fun things to cheer you up" package was from these girls, flowers the day i got my medi port put in, texts, emails, phone calls on chemo days and post chemo days. cards. gifts for ava. every square inch of my house cleaned and organized...we all know that was britt. what a gift.

we will be together soon. in the midst of the chaos of life we make this happen. we spend the money, take the vacation time off work, drive and fly to be back together. i am grateful for all of you.

the plan was for me to be there by now. at 2pm actually. but my flight was cancelled just as i was unloading the car at the airport. perfect timing. we loaded the car back up and went to breakfast. i now leave at 8pm tonight. let's all hope ava does okay since she will be flying during her bedtime. (we do not always bring kids but this year we decided to...for them to meet ava and for some of us to meet jonah and hang with bella and max.) it will be busy and crazy but good. these are our lives now. we are no longer six single girls doing our thing...but wives, mothers, and girlfriends. we love it. the way it has changed us for the better. let's make this is a good one. you will be missed sweet karyn.

britt's bridal shower oct 2007...is that right? four years now. wow. time for a new picture of the six of us. it was all i could find on facebook. ha.