A Sad, Sad, Sad, Sad, Sad, Sad Day

Life in Iowa as poor, frustrated graduate students brings some unique challenges to say the least. But one of the most saddening (in a sweet kind of way) is to watch friends that you have laughed and cried and worked and played with finish their degrees and move on. It leaves you feeling happy for them, and very, very lonesome at the same time. While we have felt this feeling before, it was brought home in a whole new way when our wondeful neighbors for three years, the Woods, moved in June. Heather and Garret and their children were unquestionably an answer to a prayer for us. We were shocked, scared, and slightly nuerotic when we arrived, and they took us in, treated us like family, and kept us close to their hearts. Noah, Issac, Lucy and Baby J all miss them. Lucy still asks about Heather, Noah and Isaac talk about the boys, Adam misses hunting with his "Gare-Bear" and teasing Heather, and Tiffany has a hard time talking about them without getting teary-eyed. Not to sound too pathetic, but after they left, Adam spent time everyday wandering through their apartment - often returning home with tears in his eyes and muttering "I can't believe they're actually gone" under his breath (he's kind of a softy anyway - which is why he is writing this particular entry in the third person - helps to create a safe emotional buffer...). It was not easy to have them leave, because we really loved them. And they loved us. And we were family...