Old Friends and Good Times

This weekend was one of those weekends that you plan and look forward to for months. We (my girls and I) had some awesome plans for Saturday and Sunday and we anxiously waited for the weekend to come all week.

Saturday morning we got up, got ready and headed out of town. We were going to spend the weekend in Long Beach with my old friends. Some of these friends were from elementary school others were from middle school and a couple from high school. But lets be honest, I am not a spring chicken so even with the friends from high school I am still talking a 25 year history. That? is a very long time. I am somebody who has always cherished those friendships. I know some people who once they leave high school they never looked back and they really don't have a connection with anyone they grew up with. That is so not me. My connection with these people runs deep. My need to stay connected is important. I mean come on these people saw me through my awkward stages, (some of them saw more awkward stages than I care to remember!) and they have stayed loyal. If you read my blog then you know how important loyalty is to me. Last night I felt so much love in this room at the Yard House. So many memories. So much time has passed and yet it is like we never left each other.

These people all came together to say goodbye to me. They trekked in from all over Orange County and the Inland Empire so that we could all spend some time together before I left for Virginia. How awesome is that.

I am not one to like a lot of attention, I hate surprise parties, I didn't want to walk down the aisle at my wedding, I am not a fan of the "all eyes on me" events. But last night was special. Last night I will not forget. I love these girls (and few guys too!) that came to see me off. They are so supportive and so good to me I can't even explain it.

Of course with all things that involve the Britton family the evening did not end without a little bit of drama. At about 10:15 Allison called me from the hotel where she, her girlfriend and Gianna were all watching movies and hanging out in the room and said that our neighbor that was coming over to our house to let the dogs into the casita for the night had just left our house and our dogs were both gone. I full on freaked out. Yes I am a dog lover. I love my dogs like one of those crazy people who talks to them (and maybe sings them songs sometimes, whatever, don't judge) so as soon as she called I didn't hesitate for one second and said "well then we are going home right now" I cried, I called Chris, in spite of the fact that it was 1:30 in the morning his time. He was bummed, he was worried about the dogs but also bummed that my weekend that I had planning for so long was being cut short. He knows how crazy things have been and didn't want me to miss out on any fun. I wasn't even thinking of anything else, all I could think about was my little dog's faces, how dark it is out here in the desert and how they were probably lost and afraid... or worse. One of my very closest friends that I have ever had, (she is really more like a sister to me) took me back to the hotel where my girls were waiting in the lobby, bags in hand, wearing their pajamas and the saddest little faces I had ever seen. They were so bummed too. They love their dogs too and they were so worried. We hopped in my car and headed home. My in-laws, our neighbor and my girlfriend were all over in my neighborhood driving around looking for the dogs. It gave me such a peace of mind knowing that even though it was going to be 2 hours before I got home that somebody was looking for them.

About an hour into the trip my friend Lori offered to go into my house and listen to the answering machine to see if anybody had called to say they had found them. She got the key from our neighbor, went upstairs with Allison talking her through the whole process and while I was driving I am listening to their conversation and Allison is telling Lori how to play back the messages and all of a sudden Allison started flapping her arms and saying "someone has them, someone has them!!!" Oh my gosh the relief. The sheer relief was crazy. At about the same time the people actually came to the door with the dogs. They were safe and home. Thank God.

So our weekend got cut a little short. It's OK. Our dogs are that important to us. We love them and I know I wouldn't have been any fun to be around if we would have stayed and not known where they were. We are going to continue with the rest of our plans today in spite of being all the way home. We are driving back out of town this afternoon to go spend some time with my brother Danny and his family for the last time before we leave. I am looking forward to it and dreading it all at the same time. I know there will be tears. (mine of course, Danny doesn't cry) and I know it's going to be one of the hardest goodbye's I have to say. But we will have fun, we will laugh and make fun of each other. It's just how we roll.

Well this has been a super long post and now I am going to go pack. Thank you so much to all of you who were there last night and that follow this blog. You are amazingly supportive and such good friends and I will cherish you always, even from 3,000 miles away! xoxo