Crisis
My best friend here is moving.
I know all of the ladies out there will understand what this means.

My confidant, friend, cheer leader, coach, and yoga teacher will no longer be a 5 minute car ride away from my house. I cannot call her up and go for coffee or drop by and enjoy the peace of her beautiful back yard. My friend who I have dubbed “Oh Wise One.”

When I first saw her, I was intimidated, I won’t lie-dressed to the nines, getting her hair done, tapping away on her iPhone with her perfectly manicured nails–energetic, bubbly, extroverted and charismatic. I had just moved from the MIdwest, had just had a baby and I’m sure had the look of a deer trapped in headlights, as I took in (or rather couldn’t seem to block out) all that was suddenly soooo different in my world. We were total opposites in my book. She was not someone I imagined becoming friends with because of that. Boy was I wrong. Little did I know that we had much in common on the inside.

I started going to her yoga class. I liked what she was helping me do to my body. Not only was I loosing my baby weight, my chronic back pain was now almost a thing of the past and my body was starting to get toned and I was actually feeling good about how I looked in a bathing suit, in my 40’s, after having 2 kids!!  And, her words of inspiration during yoga soothed my tired soul and helped give me confidence that I could and would do this expat thing! Not only could I survive here, I could thrive! She said it so confidently, I decided to believe her.

One day after yoga, she told me that she volunteered at a local orphanage and asked me if I wanted to go. I quickly said yes. The next thing I knew, we were deep into planning a fundraising dinner for them. Our passion and commitment for helping others ended up making us the best of friends. We’ve worked together for years now and have faced countless challenges and difficult times both professional and personal together.  She has been “that” person for me. The one I call to share good news with and to help me get back up when things are not so great. I hope everyone has “that” person in their lives. It makes the road so much easier to travel.

What will I do without being able to call on her for words of wisdom and motivation?

I guess I’ll have to do it on my own.

I’m leaving a few days before her–to take my daughter to camp in the states. It will be so hard to say goodbye, so I think it’s actually a bit easier leaving first.

I’ll leave you (and me) with a few of the words of wisdom she has shared with me over the years:
-Just relax and go with the flow.
-What matters is that your intent was good.
-What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
-Fake it until you make it.
-Take a deep breath and just relax.
-You can only do what you can do.
-Is that really what’s important?
-Can you do anything to change that? If not, then let it go.
-Put your big girl panties on and go do what needs to be done!

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