Long Distance Friends

This past decade, my husband and I learned a terrible truth about ourselves. We are such annoying friends, people tend to move out-of-state to get away from us. It's happened more times than not these past ten years, and always with members of our small group Bible study. These are the people to whom we grow closest, and it devastates us each and every time we have to say good-bye. (Remember my earlier post about our lack of participation in a small group? This is a major reason why.)

Below I list a few of our long-distance friends, who found us so difficult to deal with, they ran away. I know many of them read this blog, although they'd never comment. I'm wondering if this post might change that fact.

Our friends Blue and Paul Bunyan, with their children Elmer and Lucy (the Purple Cow), live in upstate New York, just a bit aways from the Canadian border. Blue earned her blog nickname because of her beautiful blue eyes and also because her husband really is Paul Bunyan (minus a few inches). He is currently building their log cabin, with no help except for occasional assistance from a few relatives and friends. Paul Bunyan actually lived with us for about six months several years ago. He ran away so fast, he left clouds of dust. Must have been my slightly OCD personality that drove him away.

Aces and Spades moved to Pennsylvania and subsequently produced two children, Clubs and Hearts. They earned their blog nicknames because they are our Canasta buddies. Well, they were our Canasta buddies. When we discovered they found new Canasta partners in their small town, I must confess I felt as if they were committing adultery. It's taken me a bit of time to get over that deep sense of betrayal. :)

Lizard and Terrapin still live in our same state, although several counties away now. It's such a trek to see them, we get together only a couple of times a year. They own their own business, which consumes much of their lives, although - despite their heavy work responsibilities - they still maintain a small bit of the pick-up-and-go lifestyle possible when you don't have children.

Georgia Peach and Big Apple received their blog nicknames because of their home states: Georgia and New York, respectively. (Georgia Peach should not be confused with Peaches, who is a twin sister of Cream.) Georgia Peach and Big Apple became pregnant soon after they joined our small group. Once little Papple entered the world, they hightailed it back to the state of Georgia to be near the new grandparents. Little Papple was the first girl born in over 100 years on her daddy's side of the family.

Red and Firefighter remain in our state, but they moved as close to the state border as possible. They've since birthed three children and obtained one very large fur-baby, so we rarely see them anymore. Their children are our godchildren, and boy do we stink as godparents. I love the children dearly, as they are the cutest things ever (except for the Tongginator and her cousins, of course), but -- wow -- do we rarely ever see them. Their blog names, from oldest to youngest are: Accelerant, Inspector and Probie.

Then there is Spiderman, the web guy, and his Mary Jane. Spiderman helped us set up our adoption website so long ago, before the Tongginator arrived home. They now live in a state that borders ours, but we still hardly ever see them. Thankfully, we hear "their news" regularly through the grapevine, as we are close with Mary Jane's aunt, who lives 10 minutes from us.

We have completely lost touch with Bamm Bamm and Pebbles, but I still felt they deserve a mention. Red and Firefighter should remember them, although it's been almost a decade since we last saw them. I often wonder what they are up to now.

To all of the above mentioned people, Husband and I have to ask ... Do we smell?