"Some friends come into our hearts and quickly leave, while others leave footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever the same"
I know I've posted this photo before, but it is quite possibly my favorite photo of Kaci and I EVER
This is going to be sappy and some what hard to write, because 1) SAPPY is not normally in my vocabulary and 2) she is moving 2500 miles away in 3 weeks.
I meet Kaci in 2002 under a palm tree at a random party in Santa Cruz. I had just graduated from college, and being all fierce and indepedent, I decided I was moving to Santa Cruz where I didn't know a soul for the adventure of it. Another friend was in town visiting and she knew this "friend of a friend" who was having a 4th of July get together, so we decided to go. By 2am my other friend was running around hitting people with a plastic hammer (don't ask) and I was being constantly hit on by this creepy guy, so I went out into the front yard to have a cigarette. Sitting myself down under the tree, I hear this voice from the other side say "hey.... got an extra light?" So there was Kaci, another recent addition to the Santa Cruz scene, having just moved out from Michigan with her boyfriend and another friend. A "friend of a friend" happened to get them to this party as well... and the rest is history.
Kaci is a couple years older than I, and moved out here after graduating from Eastern Michigan University. Her and her now-husband, Don, drove out in two cars with a giant cat and walkie-talkies, as fast as they could to get to the California coast. Since that day under the palm tree, it's been quite an adventure.
Kaci's Bachelorette Party and Wedding, August 2005
We've cooked hundreds of dinners, spent numerous hours on the beach, drank about 200 bottles of wine, been mistaken for fashionists by boutique owners, rocked concerts spanning from O.A.R. to James Taylor, had slumber parties with our cats, made up drunk names for each other (Kachi and Pete), danced to gnarly blues bands on the Capitola Esplanade, hazed each other, drunk-dialed once a weekend, and smoked a bunch of cigarettes when we weren't supposed to. We've cried to each other, laughed more than should be humanly possible, and given and taken advice like sisters. I moved, she moved, then I moved again to Fresno, but it's still never been more than 150 miles apart.
Post-Margaritaville
So one night, about 8 months ago, I was visiting and Kaci drops the bomb. "Don and I are moving back to the Michigan within the year". Of course, there had been some tequila-drinking going on that evening, and the idea for tattoos was born. Operation Pride laced with Tequila produced the following results:
Kaci on Left, me on Right
Yup, she's got my matching tattoo on inside of her foot (I'm resisting the urge to make some sort of comment like "superheros UNITE! when we put our feet next to each other like this).
The quote at the start of this post is somewhat cheesy, but it's the best way I can think to describe this awesome chick. I sort of hate her for moving (KIDDING!), but she'll always be my girl.
4 comments:
I dunno if it's because of my ovulation or because I've just woke up and my emotions aren't in place yet, but that totally brought tears to my eyes.... :'-(
(I have a friend that I maybe see once a year, but we're still very, very close!)
What an awesome friend! You are so lucky.
What a great post. Like saskia mentioned, it brought tears to my eyes too!
Oh, Delia, you and Kaci were so lucky to have found each other! How wonderful. Even if she is going far away - now you have a new place to visit and stay, right?! They even have wineries in Michigan.
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