I'm not sure that I can adequately articulate how excited I am for her and how sad I am for me. I miss her SO MUCH already (but thank goodness for email and Facebook!).
Over the past few months, there've been a myriad of goodbye parties for her. First, there was the surprise one before she left for her training in Switzerland:
Then, of course, there was our entire trip to Italy. I've already posted all the pictures and talked about that a whole lot.
Then, two weeks ago, there was a large, 'official' goodbye party.
And, then, the night before she left, there was the final sushi dinner (I couldn't go because of my VLI intensive) and then the Ben & Jerry's Feast/Friends Marathon with Jennie, Tiffani and I.
Gosh...so many events in an attempt to spend time with someone so dear to so many people. So many words spoken about how much she means to me/us, how blessed the people of MedAir and Uganda are to have her with them for this (at least a) year and just how wonderful she really is. But, all the events and all the words seem so pithy, so not enough.
It was excrutiatingly difficult to hug her for that last time that Saturday morning. I drove to my VLI intensive sobbing, barely able to see the road. And, truth be told, it wasn't really a goodbye - as in, we'll never see each other again. But, more of the "I'll see you in a few months." But, the idea of these next (at least) 12 months without seeing her and being in the same room with her makes me so sad - even if we will get to communicate via Skype and the Web. I've loved being Jennie's roommate for three of the six years I've lived here and it's just plain weird without her here. There's a definite hole in my life now.
I'm so very excited for her - to know that she's where she ought to be, doing what she was made to do. She's such an amazing woman of compassion, wisdom, generosity, kindness, fun, prayer and love....and to know that she's finally living out something she's wrestled with, investigated and prepared for is so awesome and such an example to me. I think I'd be mad at her if she didn't go pursue this....if she stayed in Denver and denyed this call on her life. But, wow...I do still miss her even if she is where she belongs for this season.
She's been one of the key people who's shown me it's okay to be me - whoever and whatever that looks like. She's shown me the value of simplicity, prayer, faith and loving people unconditionally. She's helped me gain the confidence to believe that I matter to people - the big and the small things in my life, she's always been interested in. And, she's been really fantastic at kicking my butt and putting some cold hard reality into my life when I need it.
I'm making this post sound like a memorial or something...and goodness knows she's not gone permantently or even out of my life for the next 12 months. But, things just different for a while...and that makes me sad! I really miss her!!
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