Bittersweet

It’s happening again, more close friends are moving to Austin.  Now almost all my favorite people will be crammed into one city that I will never, ever voluntarily move to.  I am very excited for them because it’s a great move for them, but also very sad for us.  It’s going to sting this time. 

I haven’t lived in the same city as my other Austin friends and family for years, so I’m used to e-mails and weekend visits.  But the Johnsons are a staple of my adult life.  We invite them for dinner without cleaning the house and then head to the grocery store once they get here.  They have never complained (to our faces) about driving to the suburbs to visit.  We’ve been on vacation with them.  They came to visit us at the hospital after the births of both boys and are godparents to both of them.  We’ve shared countless dinners and drinks with them.  One of my top 5 Houston moments was meeting up at the Black Lab as soon as we all finished The Deathly Hallows so we could properly discuss Harry Potter in a British environment.  They’re the people we invite to every party we throw.

We had a dinner party last weekend to celebrate with them before they move next month.  It was a challenge for us to make it as special as we could, because these are people who have taught us about the details of life:  glittery birds hidden in the trees outside their house for their annual New Year brunch, china plates instead of paper when they brought a cake to a pottery studio, homemade caramel sauce and peanut butter cups for Christmas presents.  Now we’ll just have to take those life lessons and keep applying them to our everyday.

So, sigh.  I know they’ll have a great time in Austin making new friends and getting super educated and finding all the good restaurants.  We’ll visit; we’ll have to visit.  Too many close friends live there to stay away.  I’m just getting ready to mourn the geographical closeness and convenience and comfort of their friendship.  But I know Kellaura is a terrific pen pal and anyway, I’m hoping the volume of Episcopal churches in Houston will draw them back in a few years.  Until then, keep it weird Austin.  Your weirdness is my hope of driving my friends back to Houston…