See you Later

"We didn't realize we were making memories. We just knew we were having fun." ~ Unknown

I know I'll never forget.

It's a big part of who I am today.

All of the wonderful moments I spent with my neighborhood gang are burned in my brain forever.

I can still feel the wind on my face as I feverishly peddled my banana bike over to Carrie's house. Every day was an adventure of some sort.

I remember Susan coming down the road to my house where we would explore my older basement, pretending we were Nancy Drew or gathering rocks in the yard dreaming of being life-changing scientists.

I remember how Carrie and I were determined to build a tree house, only managing to nail one piece of wood to another the entire day. (Neither one of us are now builders).

I vividly remember sitting in the well-hidden tree perch in my front yard where Carrie and I would yell at some guy named Rick who used to drive by in an orange-red Camaro. I'm not sure who Rick was, or why we were yelling at him, but I'm sure he stayed thoroughly confused as to where on earth the voices were coming from that yelled at him on a regular basis.

I have been thinking about this lately because, sadly, our neighbors and dear friends are moving in less than a week. For the past four years our lives have been entwined in wonderful and unexpected ways.

First of all, it's extremely rare to meet a family in which ALL members of the family become good friends. I'm talking the wives, the husbands, and ALL of the kids. Finding that is harder than finding a needle in a haystack. And then to have them live two doors down? We have been BEYOND fortunate. 

As families, we have enjoyed dinner dates, road trips, shopping trips, movie nights, game nights, grill outs, holiday celebrations, sporting events, lake weekends, trick-or-treating, pool weekends, fireworks, sledding, birthdays, and more things than I can even begin to mention.

Between the two families, we have five boys. Our second graders are dear friends, and our fifth grader and their fifth-grade boy and sixth-grade son have been inseparable for four years. 

The magic of fort building, exploring, flashlight tag, Nerf wars, sleepovers, backyard sports, swimming, video gaming, and pure laughter and chatter, loaded with lots of imagination has burned brightly between our houses for many seasons. 

Though I am really upset myself,  I am  infinitely more sad that my boys are having to say goodbye to their "brothers from another mother." They have laughed like siblings, fought like siblings, and had each others backs as brothers do. 

I know we will stay in touch. I am already trying to plan some sort of trip to look forward to before they are yet gone. And this isn't goodbye, but more see you later. I'm still determined that at least two of them will be college roommates.

I think what will be the hardest will be the silence. No knocking on doors when the homework is done. No loud laughter from the backyard.

It's going to be awfully quiet.

But as sad as we will be to see them drive away to their next chapter, I realize how fortunate we have all been.

And I know that the gift of friendship we have all shared truly has been exactly that- a gift.

The magic of having "brothers" just two doors down is a precious time that I know my children will never forget.

Because I know I never will.