In this post, I will be saying good-bye to the really important "things" we will miss from Charleston: the friends we made. The first 6 months we were in Charleston, I had really only one friend: my 28 year old male personal trainer. No, I am not kidding! Here is Justin, who went out with me, Jasen, Mom, Grandma and Angie. He's a good guy and I am sorry he moved and I lost touch with him.
I didn't know if I would ever connect with anyone. I ended up counting two Army wives as real friends. But one, I didn't realize how much we had in common, and the other drifted away from the group. I will miss them.Here are Heather and Tara...
As time went on, I found friends in the most unexpected places. Who knew an aerobics hater would find friends in a "group fitness" (that's what they call them now, BTW) class? Or that it would pain me to leave a girl from Philly and a girl from Myrtle Beach? Or that an 80 year old man in my spin class would inspire me and make me weep when I said good-bye to him?
God has blessed us.
The real reason we'll miss Charleston? The people! Let me tell you who they are...
The 9:30 a.m. cycle class at SAFFP. What a great group of people!! From left to right: Jenny, Harrison, Stanley, Jenny (our evil leader!), Art (who took Jasen's job at Crosstowne, coordinating greeters), Bill (the 80 year old, who signed my going away card "parting is such sweet sorrow!" and had the bluest eyes possible), Scott, my dear friend Kathy, April, and Terri. In front in the pink is Anne from England. There is one person missing, my friend, Jamie.
Davis' many friends. I probably invited too many people, but couldn't decide who to leave out!
Grace's many friends at her going-away party; again, probably overinvited, but that's okay!
We will miss the many friends we met like...
**The Rienzo family, who I don't have a picture of. We loved Paul as a pastor, Susan as a worker for Christ, and DeAnna and Morgan as amazing young ladies and babysitters. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of you all with our kids!
Mr. Cobb, Grace's principal at Drayton Hall. He's a good, good man.
Grace's 2nd grade buddy, Keelyn
**I can't believe I didn't get a picture of our kids with our friend, Kathy. She kept our kids on numerous occasions and was the most over-qualified babysitter I ever met! I do love her; her presence was like having a little bit of my own mom with me in Charleston!
Sweet Brianna and Nina. There are not sweeter girls in this world. So quiet and girl-y.
Grace's best neighbor buddy, Katelyn
**I don't have a picture of the Facellos. Great neighbors, amazing Christians, and an wonderful family! Grace will miss Madison and Caitlin, Jasen will miss Chris, and I will miss Leigh Ann and our random prayer run-ins.My friend, Stephanie, who was at church as a wife doing it on her own without her soldier husband. Obviously, we had some shared experiences! Her daughters, Evangeline and Genevieve are precious girls, too.
Davis and Vivian. Vivi's mom, Jenelle was my stylist and dear friend. Jasen and I enjoyed every dinner out we shared with the Gordons.
Grace and her friend, Skyler, in their Upward duds. Skyler is a precious girl.
Thankfully, our location at such a great city helped get a lot of company to visit!
The Graham and Karnes kids
Jen and I modeling some fine hats!
We were blessed to see the Luedeke's even if only for a quick dinner!
My aunt Pattie on visit #1
And she came back with my uncle Tommy. They have been so sweet to come see us wherever we live!
Our dear friends, Pete and Mary
We even had a family reunion last summer. Here is my cousin, Jen and her family.
And my grandma was able to come twice. Here is GG with her great-grands.
Oh, the Gadsons. If you have read this blog for any amount of time, you know how very much we love them.
Aunt Katie and Uncle Clancey came to see us
And had the coolest red/orange convertible for a rental car. Look at the guys in there with the kids. Do you think between the car, the kids, and two men people were thinking "alternative family?" hahaha!
Everyone should have a best friend who knows your life and still loves you. That's Auntie Em!
Our babysitter from KS, Jayme, and her friend, Katrina came to see us and Charleston. What a great visit!
And of course, my mom, sister, and Grandma came for Christmas. So special to go to the beach with them on Christmas Day!
And Jasen's grandparents came, too.
My dad came to see us, not one, but TWO times!! We love to have him with us. Visit #2, which was The Citadel-centric
And visit #1, which was over Thanksgiving
Jen and baby Tripp came to see us on their own. I think that's when he fell in love with me!
Along with new friendships, we were able to rekindle some relationships because we were either in the same place or close enough to see each other more often.
Here we are with Sarah and Hadder, who we met at Ft. Riley. Sarah's mom is one of my mentors
We got to see our friends, the Heidgerkens four times in the two years we were there as they were up the road at Ft. Bragg. They will always be some of our first married friends and some of my very first Army friends. Special, special, special people!
The Graham kids and Ellin and Natalie Heidgerken
The Pundts were at Ft. Bragg the first 7 months we were at Charleston. Words cannot describe the affection we have for ALL of them. Like the Heidgerkens, they are forever friends.
Here are Davis and Ethan Pundt. Davis wants to be like Ethan!
Look at those smiles. Can you tell they love each other?
Grace and Ariana. Friends since their second year of life. And if their moms having anything to do with it, they will be friends forever! Sometimes, I wonder how they can be so much alike!
Larry and Renee. Too many words about them.
The kind of friends you can do nothing with; you just want to be together.
Finally, a shout-out to our really special friends from Charleston...
my gym girlfriends. Such a neat and diverse group. I am glad I had a good six months getting to know you all!
Jenny and Christie...really special girls with hearts after God's.
Grace's dear friend, Brianna, whose family tragedy will shape who Grace is forever. I pray for this sweet girl and her family and will continue to do so.
**My friend, Jamie and her hubby and boys, Ethan, Eli, Ean, and baby girl, Elin. It's rare that you meet another Christian who is so "with it" in the real world. I miss you friend!
Davis' buddy, Ryan
My dear friends, Ashley and Jill. When we started our Bible study for 3, life was "normal" for all of us. Then, things got interesting. I know that, no matter what, these girls are in my corner. I think we are all Burkes! :)
We met Sarah and Michael, the lovely bride and groom in this photo, and Hunter, the man on the right end, on our third night living on Evening Shade. Those young 'uns had been shooting off fireworks in the middle of the night and Sarah drug the boys over to apologize. That was the beginning of one of the most unlikely friendships. I adore Sarah and her family. And having been involved in their wedding, I discovered I adored the Allred family, too. They left Chuck-town before we did, but Michael's family lives near KC, so we'll see them again.
Now, I recognize there is not much to tell from this picture. But this is the block party our neighbors and us had before we left. We had some AWESOME neighbors. And we had a dog show every night. I wish we had gotten to know them all better earlier, but am thankful for the times we shared, even if it was just 10 minutes of talking when we pulled in the drive. We will miss Hunter, Jaeger, Katya, Tim, Marisa, Embers, Johnny, Brandy, Chopper, Addie, Elinora, Albie and yes, even Jody and Bella. Great neighbors that I hope I am able to keep in touch with.
Finally, I have to say something about Grace's first grade teacher, Cinde Branch. You might have heard me speak highly of her, but believe me, it wasn't high enough! The day we went to meet her, we were flying blind, with no idea if we had a keeper or not. When I told her that we were military and had just moved to Charleston, she looked at Grace and without missing a beat said "You get to meet a whole bunch of new friends!" That was the enthusiasm and excitement I needed to see to know that she was just what we needed and wanted.
I was blessed to give the reading test to Grace's class every other week. I got a chance to get to know each child individually and hear what Mrs. Branch was really like in the classroom. The love you see in her in the following picture was displayed every day in her class. Those kids respected and loved Mrs. Branch and I got see why: she was firm, made them obey, gave them opportunities and experiences and did it all with tremendous love.The day we were leaving, I called Mrs. Branch at 6:45 a.m. to tell her we would be leaving that day and would stop by to stay good-bye. She was already at school (I thought I would leave a message) and said that she knew that day was Grace's last and that she had a little something for Grace.
I don't think I cried until we went to her room and had to say good-bye. She gave us both big hugs and got weepy along with me. She told me how special she thought our family was and how much she liked getting to know us.
When we got home, Grace opened up her gift. Inside was a tiny stuffed animal (that Grace named Cinde!), some shells, a journal, and a card that was so, so sweet. I can't remember the exact wording, but she told Grace that she had qualities about her that made people fall in love with her. Then she said "Like Dr. Seuss says, 'You're gonna move mountains, kid!'"
We will miss you, Mrs. Branch!
On that note, I will sign off with one final thought:
To all of our Charleston friends, we want to say thank you for sharing your lives with us for such a short time. You have made an impact on us and we'll never forget you all.
