A sad day in the Bay Area

Had to say goodbye to two good friends last night. For those who don't already know this, some of my very favorite people are leaving the state to go to grad school and/or pursue long distance relationships up close and in the same place. I'm happy for all of them, and I think they're making great choices for their futures, but I still get to be sad.

Last night involved saying goodbye to Carrie, who's going to grad school in Boise, and Becky, who's going to grad school (take two!) in London.

As would only be proper for Carrie, her final send-off took place at the "Brewery," where we drank beer and ate pretzels with her mom and dad, before they drove off into the sunset in a big U-Haul truck. At least Carrie is leaving with a few little pieces of the Bay Area: 4 boxes of Drake's Beer (compliments of Bob Parrish) and a shirt that says "I Hella <3 Oakland." (That's my best attempt at drawing a heart on my blog by the way. Sorry if you suddenly got really confused.)

After a brief stop at my friend Orli's semi-regular Shabat dinner (AKA Awkward dinner--I have a bad tendency of dating people I meet at Orli's house and then have to regularly put up with the awkwardness of running into them after it invariably fizzles out) we went to Becky's going away party, held by her friend (and most fabulous boss ever) Helen.

If only all boss/supervisee relationships could be this good. . . .

Helen, doing her best impression of a Jewish mother (or my grandma) put out quite the spread (which she forced us to take home at the end of the night in little tupperware containers). And Helen, Josh and I were all officially adopted as each other's surrogate Beckys, so that we won't be lonely now that she's gone. Overall it was fun, but bittersweet. But I'm counting the days until I get to see both Becky and Carrie again. (Camping trip post-job in Idaho, baby! London--and Holland--here I come!)

Abby, Josh (with a mountain man Alaska beard to replace the purple tank top), Becky and Claire


Becky's trademark pose. If you were to go back through my blog, I guarantee you could find this post at least two, maybe three more times!