The older I get the more I realize that great friends are hard to find, and great friendships are even harder to keep. People grow, they change, or they move away. Eight years ago Anna and Jason moved from Savannah to Portland, and I still haven’t forgiven them. I remember helping them load the moving truck – they were brimming with the excitement of a new adventure. In contrast, I felt a heaping helping of selfish gloom, realizing that with each box we put in the moving truck, they were a little closer to leaving here for good.

Fortunately, in the past 8 years we haven’t lost that friendship. We’ve been able to make a few trips west and they’ve made a few trips east. Each visit has been fantastic, tempered only by the knowledge that the time together is too short.

I love that we both have daughters close in age. The last time we went to Portland, Camille was ten months old and Elliot was in utero. Today, Elliot turned three! On this trip it was so fun to be together not just as couples, but as families too.

We toured the zoo and the Children’s Museum, a craft fair, spent an afternoon perusing the shelves of Powell’s Books, ate really good food and took a train ride along the coast. One of my favorite afternoons was spent just walking around Mt. Tabor Park, catching glimpses of Mt. Hood, picking wildflowers, and watching the girls build fairy houses in the roots of giant trees.

Here’s a video of some of our Oregon 2010 adventures:

All I can say is thank goodness for great friends, and for airplanes that can take you to them even when they’re far away.