Rachel and James are moving.

My friend Rachel is a fun, witty, intelligent person. Her fiancé James is also fun and witty, very outgoing and they are both very talented at numerous things.  James is a musician amongst many other things, and Rachel could be a famous chef if she wanted to (also amongst many other things). They both will beat you at pinball.

They are both pretty ready to leave Chicago and have been longing to move to San Francisco: the food, the weather, the mountains, the accessibility to beautiful nature.

And poof!  After looking for a job for a scotch of time, Rachel landed a big girl job with a big girl company. And she starts in 2 weeks.  Meaning they are leaving like now. NOW!

How does one balance their emotions, between happiness for them, and sadness for myself because my friend is going to be 2,131 miles away (or 31 hours of straight driving time without pee breaks). And who will go to the grocery store with me just because they like grocery stores? And who will just go to Target because who doesn't love Target?  And how am I supposed to go to a restaurant without first hearing if its good or not?  And how do I recap a night of going out without someone to tell me what happened after I left?

This is all a part of growing up. I feel like my friends, and Bill's friends which are also my friends, but my friend community that consists of doctors and teachers and social workers and nurses and artists and sellers and all of it: That we are not grown ups. We are all so fun and awesome, that its hard for me to admit I am a grown up.

Even after marriage, home ownership, a baby, 2 dogs, a new car....after it all, its all a part of growing up. And moving on. And they are moving on. And I'm happy for them, I will still be sad for me, but I am so happy for them. And I will miss them so much!  It means more reason to travel, to use Skype, to master Google Hangouts... I think I'm still in denial, it hasn't totally hit me yet. I'm scared for when it does.