Old friends....

I just realized that this is my 50th post. Woohoo! I'm still relatively new to this whole blogging world and still a bit fascinated by it. When I graduated from high school no one had cell phones, the internet was completely new. I remember being in college and having the internet and e-mail explained to me. It seemed so hard to comprehend and was such a luxury. Now it is my primary form of communication. I still have letters from friends at other schools and notes of encouragement that friends would put in each other's mailboxes. Now we send e-cards. As much as I like those notes and letters that we are able to pull out and reminisce with, not having to search for a stamp or an address certainly has helped me keep in touch with friends.

And cell phones. How much different would have those long distance relationships that many of us endured have been if we had unlimited nights and weekends?

Ok, not the point of this post at all. I really just wanted to say how interesting this blogging world is and is it something we could have even predicted we'd be doing 10 years ago? I love the way we reconnect with people from various stages of our lives and meet new people who've checked out our blog after seeing us post on another.

The fact that this is my 50th post and my interest in the blogging community were actually not what I intended to write about tonight. What is on my mind is that I am getting away. I am leaving my husband and two kids behind for an extended weekend away with my college friends to celebrate our 30th birthdays. I am NOT 30 yet! I will cling to my 20's until the last possibly moment which is still 5 months from now. Out of the nine of us that stay in touch, seven of us are turning 30 this year, with the other two just a few months behind. I've known all of these girls since I was 18 years old (one even longer - Shannon!) and we got to experience those life changing college years together. They all knew me before I was a wife and a mom and the mature woman that I am today. Pause for laughter....because you all know the mature part isn't true! We've laughed together, cried together, prayed together, studied together, slacked off together, pigged out together, play pranks together, ran together, fought and made up together, danced together, played sports together, cooked together, worshipped together, fallen short together - basically we've lived together. I've seen each one get married and met every baby (we're up to 11 with 3 on the way). It's amazing that we've been out of college for longer than we were in it and we've all stayed connected. Our time together in college was far from perfect. In fact I think all of us would agree that we did alot of dumb things (and I'm not even talking about the Miss Dairy pagent you (meaning not me!) all performed) and have grown greatly in our faith and as women since graduating. We've learned to be more honest, less afraid, more confident in who we are.

We meet as familes once a year over the summer but this is the first time in years that it's just us girls. We're crashing at Heidi's house and are enjoying time to hang out and spending all day Saturday being pampered at a spa. Matt asked me today what I was looking forward to the most - spending the day at the spa, hanging out with friends....or getting away from the kids. I can honestly say that going to the spa is exciting and I am really really looking forward to getting away from the kids (add another really in there), but the highlight is being together with these wonderful women. So to Shannon, Emily (we'll miss you California girl) Kate, Erin, Heidi, Cindy, Kerri, Karen - I love you guys!

PS - It's been a stressful few days as Catherine threw up yesterday and showed signs of the stomach bug. Perfect timing, I know. She's been fine today and we are just praying that it continues that way. I was panicked that Matt would get sick and I would have to stay home to take care of the kids. I would probably spend the weekend crying and depressed with the kids in front of the TV so we're all quite happy that he's still healthy. Keep him and the kids in your prayers - for continued health and a good few days without mom. I don't imagine I'll be posting again until late next week because I have a paper due for my new class (more on that sometime) when I get home and instead of working on it tonight I wrote this!