Goodbye, Dear Friends

Well, the thing I've been avoiding thinking about is nearly here.  Two of our closest Milwaukee friends are moving away, despite all our attempts at getting them to move to our neighborhood for the past year or so.  Michigan, where they are both from and where their families still are, is stealing them back from us.  For the record, Alec, all your, "Don't worry - we're not moving back to Michigan"s that you've told us over the past year turned out to be false.  Laurel won.  Boo.

We've known Alec and Laurel for about four, four-and-a-half years.  We knew them when they were just married and freshly moved to Milwaukee.  Brad and I weren't married yet, both living in apartments downtown.  Now we all have houses, cockapoos, and babies!  Crazy how much can change in four years!  Laurel & Alec are our go-to friends, meaning we probably hang out with them once a week at least.  Whether it's game night (favorites include Ticket to Ride, Settlers, and Rummikub), dinner and TV (New Girl anyone?), or a cookout.  We've had so many fun times camping, playing volleyball, and going out to eat, too.  I even got Alec to play Fantasy Football one year!  It works out really well being friends with them because our dogs are BFFs too.  And we are planning on Bennett and Briana getting married someday. :)  We were hoping to have more time with our babies together, but since B decided to come out almost two weeks late, that didn't quite happen.

So in reality, I don't think it has totally hit me yet that they are moving away.  I mean, I've known about it for awhile now, and I probably knew for even longer that they wanted to move back by family and likely would someday.  But I can't really picture them not being here.  And Michigan is not a super short and easy drive.  I mean, of course we'll visit, but it's going to have to be a planned out thing.  Not an easy, "Hey - what are you guys up to tonight?" kinda thing...  :-/

Alec & Laurel - we are going to miss you guys!  We have loved getting to know you and you have been a blessing in our lives!  Thank you soooo much for making Bennett's arrival so special, by watching Cooper and decorating our house and all the nice gifts!  Let's make sure we really keep in touch, not just say, "Let's keep in touch."  We are so happy for you to be back by family and for your new house....but we are going to miss you in Wisconsin.