goodbye #1

my dear friend michelle was visiting from copenhagen this week, and since many people consider her dear, we all wanted to spend time with her. to appease our needs, she carefully scheduled her time and gave me all of tuesday. i wanted to do something special, so we celebrated her visit by driving out of town through the skagit valley and up a particularly beautiful road called chuckanutt drive.

we had a magical day. the weather was at times wet and then sparkling, and our conversations were varied and at times scattered--we had so much to share. yet as i type this, i am reminded that even when we lived in the same city, we spent days like this. we often shared marathon conversations, never growing tired of each other's company, and talking and laughing and forgetting what we were talking about after pursuing another topic. that's what it's like to have a dear friend: it's easy and special.

i saw michelle one more time before saying goodbye. when it was time to go, i found myself telling her that maybe i'd see her again before she went home, but then i knew that wasn't true. this was it. when i admitted it, she grabbed me and said, "well come on, let's do this then." it was sweet. we both knew that our next visit would not come soon, as she'll visit seattle and i'll be in san francisco, but it didn't matter, because we both knew we'll be friends for a lifetime, and those types of friendships don't require a shared city.

love you, michelle.