I hope it settles down now. Blog.com’s never been good about handling cut and paste but now I’m having problems with every post because it’s defaulting to times new roman (which I hate) and I’m having problems remembering which font I used before.
It should be consistent now. Apologies for the turbulence!
…they’re gone.
Yesterday was the official first day of Russian Gal and Music Man’s new life in Russia. Yup, two of my best friends have relocated to the other side of the continent and now I have to get a visa each time I want to go out drinking with them.
It’s been coming for a while - the announcement in March, the leaving party in May, the finalised date in June, the first departure in July and the second in August…
So I definitely can’t say it came without warning, but it’s turned out to be like ripping off a plaster slowly - drawing out the agony doesn’t make it smart less once it’s finally torn away.
I cried after I said goodbye to RG when she left last month, I cried again after saying goodbye to MM last week, and I’m crying again now that I know they’re properly 100% gone. That’s a lot of crying. Fortunately they both made sure I’d imbibed plenty of liquid before they went so I wasn’t in danger of drying up. My tears probably have the alcohol content of strong lager but hopefully less bubbles.
They plan to stay in Moscow for at least a couple of years. It had better not be any longer than that or I fully intend to fabricate some story about them working for MI5 so they get chucked out of the country. Or maybe send them a poster of Dobby the House Elf - as long as Putin’s around, that really should count as a subversive act.
But until then, I will miss them.
I’ll miss them because they’re spontaneous - pretty much the only friends I’ve got that can and do persuade me to do something out of the ordinary. Because we’ll talk for hours about almost any topic and usually I’ll hurt myself laughing while we do. Because they’re a couple (married three years now, yikes!) who seem never to have received the leaflet on how to make a single friend feel like a third wheel. Because they know me so well that they once gave me four options for a birthday present and they were all perfect. Because they’re fun, generous, open, caring and a million other adjectives that make them good to be around.
(These splurts of sentimentality on this blog are really getting out of hand! But since I write what I’m thinking about, so be it.)
I will continue to think of my absent friends and email them often I’m sure. But the blow will only be softened as soon as I get around to visiting them in Moscow. And in the meantime, I hope they’re using their time wisely and researching decent bars to take me to!
