The season of farewells....

Dave and his Mom and sisters Ruth and Arlene. Now all living in different states: WI, IL, TN, CA

Friends and cousins who we raised our kids with: Meredith and James

The Choi family who enriched our lives when they moved to Waukesha.  Friends that are family! Love the candy necklaces? 

How do you say goodbye to a wonderful mother who has been slipping away for 9 years? Will she remember me  now that she won't see me very often?

Cathy- the friend that is a true soulmate. I can't believe she isn't moving with me!

My sister Karen who has been with me all my life. We shared a room, she protected me from my brother Kevin, raised our children together and will continue to be there for our mother.

What can I say about a very special couple who  are second parents to our children? They have been there for us in all the stages of our life.

Joyce and Anders
Double first cousins are really sisters!

Marilyn and Wayne
Another "sister" and we took many camping trips together. Our kids were best of friends.

Our wonderful neighbor Betty who became an instant Grandma to our boys when we moved in across the street.

Tom, Dawn, Tali- cousins and friends from childhood.

Dave and Shirley-friends as teenagers and through adulthood

Don,Cindy, Sadie, Sienna, Shana- we go way back ....

Jeff,Tina and Brooke- Dave grew up with Jeff and I grew up with Tina

Dale and Diane- special friends....

Dan and Karen- very good friends since teenage years . Then they became our Door  County camping buddies.

Denial was my best friend until it failed me recently (as in this weekend). As Tristan commented about 2 weeks ago, " You are excited about California but are totally ignoring the fact that you are leaving Wisconsin." So true! Dave and I feel that CA is where we are meant to be at this stage of our life but the roots go deep in Wisconsin. Pulling up roots is very hard and painful. This has been a wonderful place to grow up, raise our children and thrive. But life brings changes and we have to go with them. I feel like we started saying our goodbyes back in November and I tried to grab some photo memories along the way. This is only the first installment so don't feel slighted if you haven't been featured yet! See you next time!