and there they go.
I visited Kent and Joyce tonight before they left--two people I have known and been close to for pretty much as long as I can remember.
I don't really know what to say because ... wow. I grew up with these two people and in the last hour or so, both of them have left me. As I drove away from their houses, I realized that it will be a long time before I go back there. It's crazy. I know their houses and their families so well and I can only imagine how miserable I'll be when I drive past their houses when I visit from Davis and realize that they're not there.
This is a picture of me and a half-asleep Kent who is very much bothered by the intense flash on my camera. As unflattering as this picture is for me... and as crazy as I look, I love it because it totally describes our friendship. His face is TOTALLY about to yell out "What the fuck are you doing, Lisa?!" ...and yeah, that's pretty much us. :)
I hope Joyce does not mind that I posted this picture up. I know we both look like sleep-deprived, teary-eyed crap, but I don't know. These are the last few pictures we're going to have together until Thanksgiving or Christmas.
On my way home, I thought about all the things I wish I had mentioned in your yearbook insert. You are my best friend. And you have been for so long that I don't know what I am going to do without you. We grew up together like sisters, no more than a mile apart from one another, and now we're more than 400 miles away from each other. I'm not exactly sure how to cope with that.
I keep thinking about all the people that I'm losing but then I remember a conversation with... man, I cannot remember. I've been trying to figure it out, but it hasn't been clicking in my head. I talked to someone a year or two older about friendships and how they change because of distance and college. "We'll never have that magic again," I said. "No, it's still there. It's a different kind of magic, but it's still magic. Once everyone comes back in the summer, it's like nothing has ever changed." And that's all I'm hoping for. The feeling that not a day has passed since the last time we all hung out.
Just like anything else, this is simply another part of life. And I will adapt. Everyone will adapt. Life is life! And that's all there really is to it.