audrey's adventures...: quality friday: there is no friend like a sister

"many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart."

~ eleanor roosevelt

this weekend was filled with wonderful quality time with my dearest and oldest friend, melissa. for those of you who don't know the story, melissa and i met at her 6th birthday party, over twenty years ago, when i came with my parents to pick my brother up from the party. shortly after, i transferred to the same school that she and my brother were attending, and in the years that have followed our friendship has grown, strengthened, and we have shared a closeness that i can only image would be like that of sisters. we have remained dear friends through time and distance, and in the past eight years, have been blessed to live close enough to each other to get together often. from dinner dates to brunch club, attending church together to taking road trips, spending evenings together with our husbands to time at "4133", we rarely go longer than a week ( two at the most) without seeing each other.

one of the most difficult things about moving 2,000 miles away, is that i know i will be giving up the luxury of face-to-face time together. i know that i'll miss out on many future memories, but am thankful for the myriad that we've already created.

on friday, we spent the day playing in chicago. we began with brunch at tre k, got manicures and pedicures together, and then melissa surprised me when we arrived at navy pier for a afternoon to enjoying parts of the city we love that we often overlook. we rode the ferris wheel, enjoying (for the most part:) the view of both the skyline and the lake, walked through the shops, had margaritas to toast our friendship and our new jobs, and took pictures all along the way!

then on saturday evening, mark and i enjoyed an wonderful evening with melissa and steven, orlando and esther. in addition to the friendship that melissa and i share, mark and steven have been fast friends since the moment they met (much to the excitement of us girls). and in addition to that, mark and i have had the wonderful privelage of calling melissa's father a friend for many, many years. orlando has showered us with endless love and kindess for as long as we can remember, and in the few years that we have know esther, she has done just the same.

we have been so richly blessed by the times that we have spent with this group, and saturday evening was exceptionally special. melissa asked that we pray together for the journey ahead, and i will never forget sitting together with our heads bowed (and with tears flowing, at times) as we thanked God for giving us each other, asked for His blessings on our friendships and our futures, for His hand in our decisions, and for His strength in this transition.

thank you, precious friends. we love you dearly.