Heavy Heart

I try to share any experiences I may have with anyone if it will help others. I have one of those little, well, big life's lessons today. I am so sad. The sweetest neighbors ever are moving away today. We have lived 2 doors down from them for 2 years. They have 3 boys right around the same ages as Jacob and Maggie. Our kids love them and theirs love ours. We get along so well with the whole family, something that is kinda rare. We have the same values and even similar life experiences.

Around Christmas time we found out that they were moving. We tried not to think about it but as the thier time was drawing near, we started spending more time together, especially the last week. We spent their last night in town by eating Mexican, having some tasty margaritas, then followed by a big sleep over. It is so sad that Jacob doesn't really realize that when he hugged them goodbye today, it would be the last, for a while. It will kill me when he asks to play with them in a few days. I truely hope that we have neighbors like them again one day, but I seriously doubt there could ever be better ones than that...

Please learn a lesson from us and not take for granted the friendships that God blesses you with. We totally didn't appreciate this family like we should until we knew they were moving. Rick and I actually prayed that the Lord would bless us with a family just like theirs, yet we didn't recognize it. Maybe we recognized it but like many gifts the Lord blesses us with, we just don't appreciate them until its too late.

As they left today, I snapped a picture of the kids. I realized that is the only picture of probably Jacob's first best friend. I have memories of my first best friend from before kindergarten. {insert memory} "Hello little girl, those rocks in your parents landscape look like they need to be removed. They do? Well here let me give you a hand."

Please learn from my mistake and appreciate any of those friendships in your life that you think will always be there so you don't maintain them like you should. You never know when they will be taken away. We're lucky in our case that they are just a 6 hour drive away. One that I know we will take one day.

Warning

I am warning you that I can see many posts in the future are going to be about how much money I have saved (not on car insurance) but in the society of women who coupon! My awesome friend Angela transferred her knowledge of getting a weeks worth of groceries for a family of 4 for under $75 onto me. I have heard people on tv trying to give tips but I guess since I didn't know them I didn't trust them. I think I thought they secretly worked for the grocery stores and it was all a scam. That's how my brain works. I guess its from working at DCS for too many years but I think you are all up to no good!

I would rather scrub YOUR bathroom then make a grocery list and go shopping, but I can almost see that grocery shopping will result in a buzz from saving so much money. I KNOW I'm gonna kick myself in the pants for wasting so much time not doing this. Its almost silly now to shop without coupons. I always thought it wasn't worth the effort but I see the light now!

Thanks Angela!