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neighbors

We are about to lose some really wonderful neighbors. They're moving back to Holland. We've known for a couple months but it hit me again last night. Madeleine kept wanting to pr*y for them. She kept saying "Pr*y" and then saying each persons name in the family. It made me sad.

I don't know how many cups of sugar, eggs, milk, peanut butter and garlic have been borrowed from our house to theirs and theirs to ours but it's a lot. They also have our spare key. Once M is in bed we've used their baby monitor to be in their house and and hang out while she sleeps soundly in ours. We're really going to miss them.

Madeleine's first word was "bye". It was so fitting since it started when we were moving from the States to here. I realized again today that our lives have more goodbyes than I want. The wonderful thing about this lifestyle is that you end up having friends all over the world and it's great for vacationing. The bad thing is that your heart often aches.

It was in college that I first felt the pain and loss that comes from having dear friends move out of your life. It strikes me now, as it did then, that the beauty of loving someone is worth the pain of seeing them go. Without one you could not have the other.

So, blessings on you dear Koks. Xi'an won't be the same without you.

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