Many of you know that I met Laura in grad school. We both remember clearly our first conversation over coffee at the misson cafe, which i drove by recently and noticed is no longer there. so sad.
We sat across from each other and said, flat out, no girl stuff. No comparing, no jealousy, no weird unspoken vibes. Let's not do that. Let's create a safe friendship, where neither one of us thinks otherwise, ever. I've never had a conversation with a friend like that right off the bat. Obviously both of us had been through our fair share of the proto-typical girl friendships and had little patience left for it.
Ever since that day, our friendship began and grew greater and greater and it continues to, free of all the things we "vowed" it wouldn't be. It's become such a source of comfort in my life. I seriously don't ever think about how I look or feel before I see her. I just am where I'm am and I can tell her any of that. She is one of the most giving and compassionate people I know. Her life with Jeff is filled up with amazing friends because of the energy they put out. So authentic and genuinely loving. It used to be just Laura who would come over and have dinner with us and then Jeff entered our lives too. They got married and soon enough we were having dinner the four of us, instead of the three of us, and getting to know this awesome guy in Laura's life. Brad and I love Jeff as much as Laura. He's such an interesting guy who's doing so many cool things on his career path. I used to worry that we were boring him with our counseling psych talk, but now he totally hangs with us and teaches us about the amazing projects he works on.
Laura & Jeff were scheduled to come over for a "goodbye dinner" a couple years ago. They were headed off on an adventure- going to live in Argentina for 2 or so years. Laura called and cancelled, apologetically. Come to find out a few days later, she told me she had found out that she was pregnant. Little Amalia's life burst open in her body and she began her first part of life on earth- in her mama's belly. They re-scheduled the dinner with us and we still got to have our goodbye dinner, but they didn't change their plans. They were off, and Little Amalia was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in September of 2011.
I have to admit I wanted to shower Laura with baby love at least once a month, the way she had for my pregnancy with Ava. It was hard to have her so far away, but at the same time I was excited for her. So brave to have her first baby so far away from comfortable home.
It was awesome to find out that I was pregnant with Nathan just 4 months later. We shared a good part of pregnancy together. She reminded me of things I had forgotten
We sykped and showed each other our growing bellies and then in December of last year they made their first trip back to the States and we got to meet Amalia!
Here she is with Jeff trying to rock her to sleep.
I was about to burst myself, so pregnant with Nathan, so there aren't many photos of that visit. ;)
They made their second trip to the states this past September.
We got to spend an afternoon with our babies (and have a couple adult dinners).
It was so so fun to watch them interact and see how much Amalia had grown. She is 11 months in these photos. As most babies are, she is such a cool combo of her mom and dad. I think she looks a lot like Jeff, but her big blue eyes are unmistakably Laura's.
What a trip to have our kids play together and be so close in age.
It doesn't get better than that. To share families with your dearest friends.
We love you Jeff and Laura!
We can't wait for your to be back in the States, but we admire your adventuresome spirits and know this journey will never be regretted or forgotten.
xoxo
Merry Xmas to you in Rio!!
