It’s 2pm. That means dai­syn­erd just got on a plane to go live in Hol­land with her won­der­ful part­ner, Niels. She’s been my best friend for the last five years or so, since I moved down here, and I’m torn between being so happy that my friend has found her love and so sad that she’s gone. I know we’ll still be close friends, but it’s never the same.

I’ll miss the way you yell at other drivers on the road
I’ll miss your enthu­si­asm for food
I’ll miss intense con­ver­sa­tions at the end of the pool while we avoid exercising
I’ll miss my protest part­ner at street marches
I’ll miss weekly visits to Gigis for yummy Japan­ese food
I’ll miss scor­ing your burps
I’ll miss the phone calls after we’ve both watched some stupid TV show and need to debrief
I’ll miss dan­cing with you

But, thanks to the won­ders of modern tech­no­logy, I’ll prob­ably still get to enjoy the following:

Your fab­ulous phone mes­sages, both incom­ing and outgoing
Your insight­ful responses to my writing
Updates on your PhD project
Hear­ing you say “ripsnorter”
Great con­ver­sa­tions that range from polit­ics to life issues and back again

I know I’ve already said it, but if you ever need a voice on the other end of a phone, I’m here. And remem­ber, if you’re feel­ing like call­ing someone in the middle of the night, it’s day­time here, so you won’t even wake me.

Have a fant­astic time. We’ll see you (briefly) at the end of the year when you hand that thesis in. With all my love and best wishes for your new life together. You rock.