I could just cry

The one and only best friend I have ever had - the type of friend one connects with on that awestrikingly deep and profound level - is getting married. I just saw her webpage on the knot and got all choked up...

I am so happy for her and at the same time kind of sad, too. I wish I could go back in time and relive all those precious moments in our bachelorette years again. Of course, if anyone is guilty for initiating the segue out of that period, it was me back in 2002 when I got married. Guilty as charged. Hey - I was in love!

I even remember the night Marie and Mike met - I was there! It was at a luau on August 3rd 2002, and I was about to be married on the 24th. Here is a picture of us that night:

I went home a little before midnight, and little did I know what the night had in store for Marie regarding that special someone she met... let alone the future.

But I knew for certain he was special when she brought him as her date to my wedding 21 days later :o) Marie of course was in my bridal party; in fact I had always wanted her as my maid of honor, however I knew a specific friend in my life at that time - who was also in the bridal party - would have been upset, offended, and jealous of this (and therefore would have made me miserable). So to ensure my peace and sanity I ended up going with a person of neutral ground: my cousin Heather, who was like a sister to me growing up. And she was just as appropriate for the role as Marie was - but I still think, due to that deep connection Marie and I shared - that Marie would have been the more appropriate maid of honor. Either way, she was in my bridal party, and that was what was important. She was the maid of honor in my heart.

And now she is enaged to be married three years later and it scares me how quickly time goes. We have been apart for some time now, though, as life does that to people. Circumstances. Change. It is life. And so let us end this entry with a quote: "All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." ~Anatole France