for noodle.

Tomorrow one of my very dear friends is moving to Australia.  While I'm genuinely so excited for her (and also insanely jealous...damn that accent is sexy...), I admittedly am a little bummed at the idea of her leaving.  OK OK...I'm a lotta bit bummed.

Nicole, aka Noodle, moved to SF just a few weeks after me from Pennsylvania and quickly became my fellow California adventurer/explorer.  The photo above was our first picture taken together...not too shabby, right?  The months that followed proved to be full of fun and laughter and heart to hearts, which is exactly what I needed to ease myself back into sunny California livin.  The timing was pretty perfect (thanks, Universe!).

I remember the night that I got the courage to finally fill her in on the true current state of my private life.  Opening up to people about the last few years has proven to be very difficult for me.  Words can't really express how grateful and relieved I was at her reaction to my sudden onset of tears and burst of emotions; she laughed, said "holy crap, OK, hold on", grabbed a bottle of wine from the fridge, and cried with me.  She listened, asked appropriate and gentle questions, and then said the 2 most magical words; "No judgement."  To me, this is the mark of a true friend.  As if I wasn't already friendship falling in love with her, it was then that I was completely sold.  She'd be my friend for life, whether she liked it or not :) 

So my little Noodle, I am deeply grateful for this whirlwind year of friendship.  I am grateful for our morning walks along the bay, the Finer Things Club meetings full of wine and cheese and talk about nothing truly "Fine", the hours clocked watching reality TV, the sleepovers where I'd threaten to make out with you when Brian was at work, basing our decisions on whether or not our "Kardashian friends" would wear/say/do them, the plethora of mini road trips exploring NorCal, me freezing to death in your apartment year round, you trying to convince me that pregnancy and babies are awesome (false, you'll never win that), the giggles, the tears and the giggling so hard it turned to tears.  I am grateful for your kindness, patience, honesty, silly spirit and zest for life.  You are a classic old soul wrapped up in a youthful and playful disposition...can a friend get any better than that?

I wish you the best of luck on this great adventure you're taking, I know you're going to have the best time ever! 

I am truly going to miss you.

Also, I'll be using all of your fabulous expressions while you're gone.  And probably not giving you credit.


See you soon (down under?), babe :)


love and light,

trish/patsey/trash/crotch/wretch

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