Tug of War

Allow me to vent, please.


The pictures of Eddie's birthday party are going to take about 2 weeks to edit. DRAT! The downside of having an awesome and super busy photographer! So I'd really like these next couple of weeks to fly by. But then....

That girl that pops up in almost all of the pictures from my birthday? She's my neighbor, Nicole. The cute little thing with the huge blue eyes that you see in pictures with Eddie? That's her son, Ethan. When we first moved here, we didn't talk to many people. I started working for the builder of our neighborhood right away, and since most neighbors had some complaint about the builder or his warranty follow up, I was looked at with the side eye. Frank and I became friends with Jim, the builder's son, who is much more reliable than his father (hense why we're still friends). Through him, we became friends with more neighbors. And suddenly, I can't remember how we became friends with everyone else. So-and-so talked to that person, who talked to that person, and suddenly I'm in a neighborhood that I love. Somewhere along the way, I learned that Nicole was pregnant and due about a month after me. Now, when you think you're the only pregnant person near you, and you find out that someone else is pregnant, you want to be friends with them right away. But seriously, how do you just say to someone - 'hey, I think we have some shit in common. Want to hang out?' - I mean, really. Making friends when you're an adult is a mess. ANYWHO. I promise, I'm going somewhere. I had Eddie, they came over to meet the little man with the rest of the neighbors. 3 weeks later, Ethan was born. We started going on walks, having playdates....and then Nicole's world kind of flipped upside down. Her husband, Jesse, joined the Army and left for bootcamp in Kentucky. After months away from his family, Jesse recieved his orders....they're moving. Far, far away....to Germany. Jesse has 8 days to come home and leave for Germany. 8 days to say hello and goodbye to all of his family. Nicole is missing her brother's wedding, has to throw together a birthday party for her son and a farewell party for her family in one weekend and has to move to another country, with an infant.

 In the last couple months, Nicole and I have become pretty good friends. I mean, once, I even showed her my stretch marks. FOR REAL. And as much as I want the next two weeks to fly by, I want them to inch slowly. I am going to miss my friend. I am going to miss the nightly chats, random walks for ice cream, laughing about various mommy things, the person to vent to, the person to listen to....the person to run to when you need something that you don't have. I'm going to miss my friend so, so much. And as much as I think that Eddie and Ethan are too young to understand, I think Eddie is going to miss his friend, too. If we walk by, he points to Ethan's house. If we're walking by, he stops and crawls up their steps to knock on the door. He'll miss his buddy too.


So here I am, at a tug of war with time....trying to make it go faster and slower.

-maggie