Saying Goodbye Sucks.

Somebody should have told me that being a military wife would mean making "good bye" part of your normal vocabulary. It seems to be one of the most stereotypical things that I could have heard, but it has become so true.

When I left Connecticut to move to Auburn, Alabama I was excited, but so sad too. Leaving behind my family seemed to hard to do, not to mention my friends. Over the last three years I have found out that nothing can prove who your "real" friends are better than distance. You know, the friends that you talk to at least once a month, that call you or email you just because they saw something that made them think of you. Those are the ones that I call my real friends. Then there are those friends that I think of when I'm getting ready to head out to the bar for a night of fun. You know, those friends that are great for a night, or weekend, out but suck at being a friend when I get back home and I just want to call and catch up. The same friends that you go to the bar with, but when you bump into other friends that you haven't seen in more than 7 years and you get caught up...catching up...they treat like pure crap, like you are the one that blew them off?!? How much does that suck?

I did it again when we left Auburn, this time leaving people I had known for a few years, not my whole life, but it really sucked then too. We made some really good friends there, none have become the later of the above mentioned, yet. Who know what will happen in the years to come, but they are true friends...

So, today I did something I haven't been looking forward to for awhile now. Shelly and I have been together since I moved to Pensacola, but before then we were friends in Auburn. One of my best friends, she has been there for me through the toughest of times, especially over the last few months. Today Shelly left for Virginia, as military wives do, to follow her husband Shane, as he started the next part of his Naval career.

I didn't cry, like I thought I would, I didn't even really say good bye. I guess it's because friends like Shelly and Shane don't get to hear those words because they are so...final. Instead they get "Drive safe", "Call me when you get there", and "See you soon". You know when you find those people that you are so close to that you know no matter how many miles seperate you, nothing will truly seperate you? Shane and Shelly are those people.

I know that when they get settled in I'll get that email or phone call from her. Or maybe it will be the text message tonight that they are on the road, or how the movers did something funny. No matter when I hear from her next, I know it won't be like those friends in Connecticut that only return my calls when I'm in town. She'll call...we'll meet up again...

It still sucks though...it always will.