Family 2.0

Family. Justin and I have been so fortunate when it comes to family. We have loving parents who will support us and guide us through life's many adventures. We have brothers & sisters who have proven to be best friends--the kind where they know they are the only one who can ask the hard questions and really make you question what you are doing and why? They will hold your hand, they will share in your pain & joys and will always give you the benefit of the doubt and second, third and even fourth chances. ---and in our family, we don't look at in-laws as in-laws. Becky, Adam, Lindsay are as much my brother and sisters as Zack and Jennifer are. That's just how it is.

& then we have our friends, who aren't just friends but family too. Justin and I wouldn't be able to raise our boys without these guys. They keep us sane by allowing us to compare stories and by telling us that our boys aren't the only ones who are running around half-naked every night. That the stomping off and fit throwing is happening at their houses too. We share our trials but we also share our triumphs--birthday celebrations, first hits in t-ball, learning to write names, making beds on their own. Our friends are our village & our boys are and will continue to be better little humans because of each and every one of them.

So when we learned that one of our dearest friends would be moving away, we were so sad. Kaden wasn't even one yet, they had just learned they were pregnant with their first baby & here they were packing everything up and heading to Wisconsin. This friendship was a little different than most our friendships though---I have worked with JG for 8 or 9 years now and we started out with a better friendship than maybe what he and my husband had or what I had with Tugce. Thats certainly not the case now, both JG and Tugce were in our wedding & although we don't live in the same state and we don't see or talk as often as we should--its one of those friendships that pick up wherever we left off.

We have traveled to Wisconsin 4 or so times to visit & they come home to KC often. Lucky for us, we have enough space in our home for them to stay with us while visiting. & that is exactly what they did this past week--it had been since Thanksgiving since I had seen Tugce and the kids which was WAY too long.

They arrived around midnight on Friday and stayed the week while JG and I attended our sales meetings. & although it was lovely having them here, I was a little grouchy all week long. Normally when we see each other, I'm not working. Tugce and I get to have a girls day. The guys have a guys night. & family days during the days but this week, well, it was full of work and each morning I had to get up and say goodbye to my family. Each evening I either walked through the door to the BIGGEST hugs four little humans could give or I walked into a quiet house because everyone had already fallen asleep.

Missing them goes without being said but you just don't realize just how much you miss someone until you get to hug & squeeze them in person for a week and then have to say goodbye. The one thing I know, we aren't waiting another 6 months before seeing them again.