Make new friends but keep the old

About 2 years ago, I reconnected with one of my best friends from elementary school, Diane. If you had told me in the 6th grade that 15 years would go by without having seen or spoken to each other, I would never have believed you. We were inseparable. But she moved away when we were in high school and we completely lost touch. A few years ago, her parents moved back to Chattanooga, but by then Diane had moved to New York to work as a concierge at a Manhattan hotel. There, she met her hubby Raymond, when his construction company was hired to renovate her hotel. They moved about 20 minutes outside of NYC to Rockland County and now have an adorable little girl Juliette. She has lived a completely other life since we were friends, while I've been living 10 minutes from our childhood homes the entire time. It's crazy...

Without her, I would never have pulled off Jimmy's surprise 40th birthday trip to NYC last August. She booked our hotel, our dinner reservations, our boat ride and told me all the in's and out's of NYC vacationing. A far cry from the little world of Hixson I've never left!

She was back in town with Raymond and Juliette for her brother's wedding a few weeks ago and we all got together for the Ronald McDonald Fall Festival at the Riverpark. It was a great day!






Cutie pies...
I'm so grateful to have reconnected after so many years and share in the joys of parenthood with her!