Lizzie's first Idli

Not the most fluffy, more on the dense side, but I don't think they looked horrible. Not bad for a first try, eh?

Parentals

My parents rock. I know that as a child I am supposed to have a certain amount of feeling like they are old and don't get me. Well, at least they do get me. :) Just kidding guys!
My parents came to visit me in Minnesota two weeks ago. They stayed for almost an entire week, which made the visit even better! We got to do sooooo many cool things, things that I hadn't yet done in my short time living here. I have been feeling pretty lonely here, what with the cold and not knowing many people yet, so having them here sort of gave me that renewed energy and strength that they are so good at promoting in me.
Plus they are my parents so they pay for everything. :) And we sure did eat our way through the week! It was such a wonderful week. I'm sorry to see it end, but looking forward to the next time!

Mia

Mia is a college friend from good ole Bucknell. We lived next door to each other freshman year, and, as with many of the folks from this hall, became one of my best friends. We ended up living together in the best Gateway ever (Roser 130!) during our senior year and have managed to keep in touch during the five years following graduation. A feat a certain parent didn't think would happen... :)
Here's a photo of us on Martha's Vineyard in July of 2002, me with longer hair and Mia with shorter. Hmmm, interesting.

Mia is in the midst of making major career and life decisions, and even with all that going on, she is still able to care for me as her friend. She is kind, opinionated, easy to share a giggle or a fun memory with, tells it like it is, and a wonderful friend. It's cool is that we have that sort of mutual support thing going on, which is particularly important during what appears to be one of those good quarter-life crisis moments.
Keep the faith Mia, and remember "the pen is reeeeeee---royal blue." :)

Helen

Helen is a friend from England, who I met in the spring of 1996 when my high school decathalon team went to visit their high school. I was randomly paired up with Helen and her family to stay with while we were there for the week. We became good friends during the course of that week, although it is amazing to think that it was such a short period of time! The following fall, their academic team came to visit our high school in Erie, PA and so Helen was able to stay with my family then. It was a wonderful exchange, for many reasons, including the wonderful friend I found in Helen. As she pointed out in a recent comment, it has been over 10 years since we have seen each other (and photos of each other it seems). We have kept sporadic contact, via letters and email, and although it was entirely possible to lose touch, we haven't. It is quite wonderful and amazing. No Helen, YOU are fab! :)

















Here's us in 1996 for some context.

Friends

As I've been struggling with former friends who have been less than I had hoped, my inner "Pollyanna" is coming out. Recently, I've been incredibly supported by numerous other friends who have been much MORE than their distance should define. So, I am deciding to share them with each other.

I am going to dedicate posts in the next few weeks to my wonderful friends. Not all posts will be in this vein, but many of them will. I have completely wonderful people, and don't I know it!!

(Disclaimer: Notice that I said numerous before. This means that I will most likely be writing til the cows come home to get everyone in. If it takes a while, don't be discouraged; I love you too!)

April showers

This isn't going to be the most happy post, just some advance warning.
I have come to the realization that some friendships just aren't meant to last...and that there is nothing I can do about it. One person can't keep making all the effort and expect that to be enough. One can prolong the inevitable for a while by doing that, quite a while sometimes, but eventually, it is ok for people to go their own ways. This is an uber-difficult realization, particularly in the life stage I am currently in. I am supposed to be making friends, not severing ties! I don't understand what about me makes me stick it out for so long, giving benefit after benefit of the doubt, upon numerous second chances. Even now, there is a part of me thinking "does it have to be this way?" Another thing that makes this particularly difficult is the close friendship we have felt, as recently as a week ago. The sudden nature of it all, that's REALLY hard. I have had friendships that have just sort of faded, which, although not fun either, are somewhat easier to handle, easing into them as it happens and then realizing one day that it already happened some time ago. This is the first real time when I have felt the need to (and carried out!) make an active change.
Do I expect too much? Are my expectations too high, and if they are, is this a bad thing?