Tonight kicked off my week of goodbyes. Every night this week I have something planned with friends in order to say goodbye to them before I'm off. Without a doubt, this is going to be one of the hardest weeks of my life.
Kate and Shawn were the first on my list of goodbyes. We went to one of our favorite places in town to get the best pizza in town. This local little hole in the wall is also going to be among the things I miss when I move away.
They, in true Kate and Shawn fashion, were late. So, I took some pictures to occupy my time before they turned up for dinner.
It was Kate who turned me onto this wonderful little sport's bar. She took me there for lunch one summer and we've been going back ever since. We always, always get the same thing - a large pepperoni pizza. Which we always - without fail - polish off. Now that she's married, we allow Shawn, her husband, to come along with us. But we make him order his own pizza.
I had got my first job when I was 16. Working as a hostess in a restaurant. Every summer, this girl would came to work there - Kate. It wasn't, however, until the summer after I graduated high school and Kate came back once again to work over the summer, that we really became friends.
That summer was one of the best of my life. We worked (a lot) day and night, almost always together, and hung out during the day and partied the nights away. We drank (a lot) and ate out (a lot) and we had the best time ever (double ever [inside joke]). It was a wonderful, wonderful summer that was filled with friends and late nights and beer pong and jello shots. And Kate.
By the end of summer, we were pretty much inseparable. Best friends, most definitely. She went away to school at the end of the summer, but we remained just as close as she finished college and I began.
Soon after Kate returned home after graduating college, Shawn popped into her life. Shawn and I were pretty much instantaneous friends. So, I was thrilled when Kate decided to keep him. And eventually marry him. I was there, at their side, to witness their relationship start, grow, and finally - last May - watch them wed.
Of course we've had our ups and downs. What friends don't? Life draws people apart. But, luckily, in our case, life's always managed to throw us back together time and time again.
I love Kate and Shawn. They have been wonderful friends to me these past few years; separately and together. I am so lucky to have had them in my life. For all those serious and crazy (sometimes drunken) moments that have been scattered throughout the years of our friendship.
And I will miss them something fierce.
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