Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Goodbye, Laurents!


When we moved in upstairs in our last house, we were delighted to find that the people who lived below were our age and had a blond little girl the same age as our boys.
I actually remember saying to Travis, "They're nice, but I don't think they're kindred spirits." I suppose I felt lonely and missed my friends in Provo. I wasn't ready to replace them so quickly with this new family. I am again feeling those bizarre feelings in our new house, almost like loving and hanging with our new neighbors is somehow dishonest to our old neighbors.

But I was wrong, thankfully.
"Kindred spirits aren't as rare as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world."
Ah, Anne. Always so profound and wise.



In a bit of fate that was both a blessing and curse, the Laurents moved out of our old house the same week as us. I had said to Travis a dozen times over the last three years, "I don't want to move! How could we leave the Laurents?" Our kids have grown up together, learned to talk together. One of the boys' first words was Elanor and she's in half our photos. I honestly think the boys believed she was their sister for a long time.

I just asked Micah, as he passed me "How do you feel about Elanor?"
He turned and glared at me and said, "Sad... and happy."
Then stomped away. That's kind of how we all feel. It's so weird adjusting to living without the Laurents in our house. It's inconvenient, sure. (I can't run to the store while the baby is napping or run downstairs on a Sunday evening to borrow an egg), but mostly it's lonely.
We were used to spending lots of time together. In the summer, we ate dinner outside together often. In the winter we played in the snow and snuggled up together for movies and cocoa.
And now it's just the Pitchers. It's kind of depressing. We have made lots of friends already in our new neighborhood (East Millcreek might be the friendliest place in the world!) but we don't have best friends yet. Friends with kids that love my kids, with a mom that I love, friends that wouldn't mind if I do dishes while they're over, or if I drop my kids off in pjs without warning so I can run to the store alone.
Those kind of friends are little more rare. And even rarer for them to live in your basement.
I have had really good luck with friends and roommates in my life. I don't know how, but I always seem to end up with those friends that care about all the same things as me.
I remember the first few months that Travis and I lived above the Laurent's, I would exclaim to Travis almost every day, "Guess what Elizabeth does!"
They only drink whole milk!
She loves Harry Potter and throws him parties!
She uses cloth diapers! She named her daughter Elanor (which by the way, was the name we were going to give Grey and Micah if they were a girl. And they gave her that name for the same reasons we were going to.)
She was wearing Lord of the Rings shoes, Travis! With the heraldry of Gondor on them! Wait. Is this real?
We had almost everything in common. She introduced me to another amazingly sweet woman, Casey- who is the most sincere and kind person that I've ever met in my life. Again, her son was the same age as the boys.
She moved away a year or two ago (yikes, how can that be?!) but luckily she still lives in Salt Lake, so she isn't gone from our lives.
You guys! I'm getting all sad and pathetic looking at these pictures and thinking about this.




Look! Before and after pictures! We lost one whole Bethany! (I'm sorry we didn't get a picture on my big camera when you were there Bethany. I love you. We all love you. This photo without your face is not a reflection of our love for you.) I'm really glad that I'm not wearing the same shirt in both those pictures. That was actually quite likely to happen.



Look at this picture from last summer! (Micah's hair is so bad.)

Casey finally rounded up children for goodbye photos, resulting in this amazing picture below:
Every time I look at it, I can't stop laughing! Eli and Micah are so pleased with the kissing going on.
Then I told these three triplets they had to take a few pictures together. They headed right for the source of action and asked if they could pose for photos on the moving truck.




We miss you, Laurents! I can only hope that someday, we meet again at the wedding of Grey and Elanor- so I can use all these awesome pictures of them kissing in their wedding slideshows, obviously.
Or she can marry Micah. Let's be real, I have a lot of pictures of Elanor kissing my children. Although, we better meet again before our kids are adults. That's all. We miss you.
We'll never replace you. Thanks for introducing me to Dr. Who, and you're welcome for me teaching you mediocre sewing techniques. BFFs. Etc.


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5 comments:

Carol said...

So Cute!!! I was so happy you had such great friends and neighbors! Wonderful blessing!!

Elizabeth said...

This made me cry. I miss you so much. It was such a wonderful thing that we happened to rent that house and then you guys later moved in. I've always wanted a friend like you and I am so glad we met. I remember telling Tyler each day as we were getting to know each other another thing we had in common and the list just went on. Yes, thanks for the sewing inspiration and tips I wold have never attempted to sew anything if not for you. Anyways, all the feels and I miss you and come visit, etc.

Elizabeth said...

*would

MARCIE said...

You are so lucky to have had such wonderful friends so close. I will miss seeing photos of the beautiful Elanor!

Fernando Solis Eguiza said...

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