Being Happy about an awful photo....

I hate having my picture taken. I have a total aversion to seeing my double chin! Most of you that know me already know this about me.... the ones that don't... yeah, I want chin-o-suction! I feel as though from the neck up I look so much heavier than I actually am! Granted - I can still lose a lot of weight and I desperately need to tone up but since I have been in high school I've always felt as though I have a double chin! The only time I didn't mind having my photos taken was around my wedding and at that point I was pretty darn underweight. I am 5'10'' and for my wedding, I weighed about 128 lbs. Once I hit a "normal healthy" weight though - my chin comes back. Anyhow... that's not what this post is about but as I searched for pictures of Kelly and I ... this is the only one I could find. Not only do we both look pretty harsh in this picture... it is a goodness awful picture of me! But we had been driving for about 8 or so hours with 2 toddlers in the backseat. Actually - this might have even been day 2 of our drive. We drove from MD to Wisconsin last summer with the 2 kids to drop her car off at her mom's house before she moved to Okinawa with her husband. Anyhow - I decided to share this picture because this is one of the last times I spent with Kelly and we had such a great time! So I need to become comfortable with showing pictures and actually being in them. Otherwise... I won't have any to look at in the future!

Last night was a little rough for me. It was the season finale of Army Wives. It's a show that Kelly introduced to me last year. It used to be one of her favorite shows. I started watching it last year with her and we watched the season finale together. This year, it was just me. I miss my best friend. She's actually more than that... she's kind of like the sister that I've never had. We're so much alike but really different at the same time. Her husband and my husband are the polar opposites (hers is pretty anal about things and mine is extremely laid back!). But she's the first real friend that I've never had a catty feeling about. Most of you know what that's like - gals can get a little funny when you get a group of them together!

Her and I have never been competitive about things and I've supported her decisions on doing certain things that I knew would be best for her... even though I wasn't happy about them! When she decided to go back to work full time it was terrible! She was my neighbor and our sons played together on a regular basis. She was like a built in playdate! It was great! So when she talked to me about going back full time - I supported her because I could tell that's what she wanted to do. She was having problems staying at home and keeping the house totally spotless (which is how her husband expected it to be when he came home!). It was too much pressure on her and the daycare situation she would use was spectacular! It was right at the workplace so she could drop in whenever she wanted. It was a great deal for her - sucked for me though! I missed my lunches with her! But she called me almost every day on the way home from work - really, now that I look back I think she called me more from work than my hubby did! Then again though, she talked back and hubby is not a big talker!

So Kelly has now been in Okinawa for a little over a year and she is actually in California right now on vacation with her husband (who is in a conference). I can't believe that I'm not flying out there!! Flights have dropped in price big time - a few weeks ago I checked it out and for me to fly out there it would have been about $700. The other day I checked and it's now about $269. Unfortunately, I don't have anywhere for Bryce to go and it's just not a reasonable time for me to travel. There's a lot I have to do here. But - she's in the states!!! It's not fair! Needless to say I am devastated.

On the flip side of this. How incredibly blessed am I that I have a friendship this great that I feel devastated that I can't hang out with her. She's thinking of coming back to the states next summer and staying around longer so Bryce and I would actually be able to hang out for awhile - so I just need the patience to wait that long! I am so incredibly lucky to have a friend like this. Heck, a few weeks ago I had such an awful stomach virus and at 10:30 pm I called her (11:30 am their time) just to complain about how awful I felt and to see if she had any advice (her hubby's a doctor). She was so sweet and while she didn't have any advice on what I was asking .... it was great to talk to her.

It's definitely a shame that I can't make it out to California right now but this contentment therapy has really helped me think of the flip side of situations. I feel so blessed by God right now that he has granted me to be in such a great friendship with her. And so I am going to proudly post one of the last pictures Kelly and I took together (actually I think I only found 2 of them and the other one I posted awhile ago!). Double chin and all..... :-)