"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."

Throughout the last six years I have lived in five different cities, in three different states and in three different countries. My wandering spirit and quest for the next adventure seemed to peel me away from each life I had created and take me in search of the next. I never moved because I was unhappy; rather I moved because I was curious, I anticipated that the next step would be more exciting, that I would finally be living the life I wanted. With each new relocation, I met friends whom I adored, with whom I connected with on multiple levels, whom I hoped would always be part of my life. But life gets busy. People get married, start new jobs, have babies, and obligations pile up. There are people in my life I was once very close with in one place at one time, and I haven't spoken with them in years now. It is kind of sad how friendships dwindle to an occasional facebook comment or note, yet it is also very normal. I have been fortunate to meet and befriend so many wonderful people throughout my life. I've had friends who challenge me intellectually, emotionally, and mentally. Friends who I have had enormous amounts of fun with. Friends with whom I have cried, and told secrets to that no one else would ever know. I've had friends who I don't have to say anything with, but everything is always somehow said. Friends who would be bluntly honest with me, and in turn who made me a better person for the objectivity. Each one of these wonderful people has impacted who I am today, regardless of whether or not we still communicate on a regular basis.

Today I feel more settled and "at home" in San Luis Obispo than I ever have before. I know that I wouldn't feel this way if it weren't for all the new worlds introduced to me from the friendships I am blessed to have in this small town. I have solidified many friendships with co-workers, of whom often seem to know me best since stressful, crazy, exciting, or challenging situations at work can bring out sides of me that others may not ever know so well. I have friends who are a blast to go out with for a glass of wine or two, and friends who I can call when I am struggling through a rough couple of days. I have friends who give great advice, and friends who ask me for mine. I have friends in SLO who have truly seen me at my worst, and at my best. I know that I would not be who I am or where I am today without the genuine, interesting, good-hearted and hilarious individuals who I am grateful to call my friends.

"You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love."

I met Meghan when I moved to Hood River in the middle of eighth grade. We bonded and became friends when we launched a water balloon fight against my younger brother and his friends one day after school. We began what would be a rock solid friendship despite moving and traveling across different states and countries, studying and being interested in different topics, and generally living very different lives once high school was finished. But as I reflect back upon our friendship, she has been the kind of friend who I can always count on. Who will always ask what is new and exciting with my life before she'll let me ask about hers. She has seen me through more than one heart ache, as I have with her. So when she called me and told me she was engaged almost one year ago, my heart danced with joy because Meghan had found her rock solid companion who paralleled her values, and challenged her, and loved her.

Last week I spent many hours with Meghan and her sister planning and preparing for her wedding. We drank wine, we laughed, we worked hard over little details and projects. Despite the sometimes exhausting effort that goes into getting ready for a wedding, I truly valued my time spent with her during her last days as an unmarried woman. But on her wedding day, when she finally got to kiss and hold her new husbands hand, I realized that the Meghan standing there, glowing and happier than I had ever seen her in my life, was truly Meghan. I feel blessed to have spent the last decade as her best friend, and I know that she is with who she was meant to be with all along.