Here's where I was...

Here's where I was... 02/18/2008

My dear hubby blew me away this Christmas with his gift.... tucked inside the lid of a Yankee candle was a my flight information for a trip to Wyoming to visit my friend Tana. Gracie and I spent a week in Basin (1200 people!!) which is about 2 and a 1/2 hours from Yellowstone. I just got back late Wednesday night. It was wonderfully refreshing to be free from the normal routine and also to spend time catching up with my friend whom I hadn't seen in a year! This is Latahana....but everyone calls her Tana....and I purposefully posted a picture of her without make-up on just because I think she's beautiful either way! (You can't be mad, Tana!) She drove 2 and a 1/2 hours to pick me up in Billings, Montana....isn't she great???!!! It was nice to have that time to chat undisturbed because the rest of the week was full of activity...some late nights, cold walks, wildlife spotting, Health Food Store hopping, cooking, spending time with her kids, watching movies, meeting friends, crying, and lots of laughing ("Look!!...it's a fox!!",she shouted...."Ummm...I think that's actually a cat...", I said, after the animal made it's way to a moonlit doorstep. It very well could have been, since I had been amazed at the boldness of the wildlife in such a small town. We had a good laugh over that one...as we drove home from borrowing chocolate chips from the neighbor; who lives a block away.....it was too cold to walk.). Tana is one of those people that makes you feel like you are really funny and witty even when you're not....because she laughs so readily at the things you say.
Grace was carted around to her heart's content....though I think she was a bit baffled at how people she's never seen before could be so familiar to me. She stared a lot at her new friends, but soon was getting into books and magazines and chewing on girlie toys. Hannah, Amy, and Mallory adopted us as family....Gracie as sister and I as a friend with boundaries. I cried to leave....knowing that it will be long time before we're reunited, and that the next time Grace sees her "sisters" she will have to get reacquainted. Hannah cried too...which made me cry....we visited her in the lunchroom of her school to say final "goodbyes", and as we turned around for a last wave, we saw her with her hands covering her face and sobbing shoulders...she has such a tender heart.
I missed my boys, who were well taken care of by friends and family, but I hope it's not another year before we get to be together again.
Thanks for a great trip, friend!!

Hannah and Grace-buddies!