a message for my dear friends

I'll be honest. I cried a lot when the group disbanded on Tuesday afternoon. I couldn't help myself. I had more fun than I can remember having in a long, long time. Life is good to me, and I know how blessed I am to have such wonderful, supportive, extraordinarily funny friends. I am always astounded at how quickly and efficiently the group clicks back in sync, as if we hadn't been separated from one another for almost a year. It's so easy, so effortless. I wanted this weekend to last forever. It allowed me to forget about life, work, schedules, bills - and reminded me the importance of just relaxing and having some fun. It was something I really needed and I will be forever grateful to the people who allowed me to have this time.

Sincere thanks from me to:
My mom & dad, for keeping Addison those first two nights,
Robert, for going along with my wild idea of getting everyone together at the beach over Christmas break,
Jason, for jumping right on board with the plan, and for making me laugh endlessly,
Matt, for the oh-so-delicious food and merriment that you bring,
Helen, for overseeing all the game play and for letting us play by our own rules sometimes,
Amaly, for reminding me how to relax & have fun,
Marcus, for the order and control that you brought to our weekend,
Patrick, for persisting and getting time off work, and for the beautiful parting essay you wrote in the guest book,
Trevor, for bringing a new sense of competition to our game play,
Jennifer, who although she could not join us, allowed Trevor to stay longer than we expected,
and Addison, for the smiles that you bring to my face every day and for being a big girl and staying away from mommy & daddy for two nights!

I love you all like my second family. I look forward with eager anticipation to the next time we can all be together again.

On an unrelated note, I promise I will post about Christmas soon. I didn't forget, I've just been having too much fun to recap yet.