Yes, this was exactly what I said when I talked to Cecilia about a week ago to find out that she was leaving for California in a little over a week. Her living in Jacksonville has seemed way too far away. But California? It feels like another planet.

She left this past Sunday and will be there for 2 months (possibly 3) as she fills in at the Laguna Nigel Ritz Carlton doing her same job as she did at the Reynold’s Ritz Carlton.

Because of the quick timing and the whole “i have a job” thing, we couldn’t make plans to go and see her before she left, but fortunately she took a few days to come here. We packed in many hours of visiting and allowed Brittain to stay up waaaay past her bedtime. It was a great visit, which made her leaving that much more difficult. The night she arrived back to Jacksonville we chatted online for a few minutes. I told her that as sad as I was about her going, it was crazy how I was even more sad for Brittain. She made me laugh telling me the story how she made the mistake of listening to every sad song she could find on her way home, so all she did was cry. That’s so us. As if we’re not sad enough, we’re going to force ourselves into making sure we are the saddest we can possibly be.

The family got together for her “farewell” dinner. I love this first picture. It was right when Cecilia arrived and everyone went straight to her for a big group hug:

We found, that after having a child, we were no longer able to “hang” with those without children. We could try, but we found out very quickly that we were the dorks we thought of others who had children before we had Brittain. The realization was sad, but we were quickly able to switch gears and start looking for friends who might better relate to us (and us to them), so we went on the search for couples WITH children.

We hit the jackpot with Matt, Jenny and Ava. We’ve been friends with them for years, but after the arrival of Ava and Brittain, our bond strengthened immediately. They understand us, we understand them. Dan and Matt spend hours playing with the Wii, drinking beer and not speaking a single word. Jenny and I spend hours doing nothing but talking and saying things like, “I wonder who I am these days”. It works for all involved, so when I finally decide that I want to do something else besides sit on my booty at home, it’s the Parkers who we seem to always think of first.

We’ve gotten together a lot lately, but I opted not to take pictures most of those times. This particular night I brought it out to get a few shots. Ava and Brittain are playing MUCH better together now. I’m not sure if Brittain has gotten used to Ava’s hugs (see the hugging bully post from last April), or if Ava’s picked up on the fact that Brittain isn’t all about the love. But whatever it is, their friendship is just too cute.

Studio D offered a dance camp this summer and Gramy and Papa offered to pay for it. Brittain absolutely LOVED it, especially the “tea party” part where she got to wear white gloves. She loved this part so much that she decided to keep the gloves on for the duration of the class. Notice that the gloves were a little bit too big. The pictures showing her hands extended are my favorite: