Happy Esther Day!!!
Esther Day, in honor of a young woman named Esther Earl, is a day to celebrate love - specifically, the non-platonic (read: non-Valentine's Day) love between you and your friends and family. I'm going to be honest and say that I always forget to celebrate Esther Day (because it's the day after my daughter's birthday, and I'm usually super pre-occupied with that), but I wanted to make a special point of celebrating it this year because we just moved from California to Oregon a week ago and now I am hundreds of miles away from the people I love whom I've been spending time with on a regular basis.
Things have been hectic (which is why I haven't posted in a while), but I wanted to take the time to tell my friends and family back at home how much I love them and miss them. There's a lot that I love about being up here, but obviously there are things that I miss about the Bay Area, the biggest thing being my squad - my MANY squads, of people I know and love from work, from derby, from running, from powerlifting, from all the schools I have attended in my life, and of course, my family.
I love you. I love you. I LOVE YOU. I unabashedly, unashamedly love you, from the very depths of my heart.
I don't know who I would be without you. I don't know WHERE I would be without you. I am the luckiest person in the world to have such an amazing squad of friends, colleagues, and family.
I have spent the last few weeks visiting people and saying goodbyes (to the best of my ability - I'm sorry that I couldn't see everyone!), and it never fails to astound me how many people are just... IN my life, who show up for me, who are there for me. Y'all are amazing, and you inspire me, and I LOVE YOU, and even though I'm far away, I'm going to try my best to be there for you too.
I love you, and I miss you, and I hope that I will get to see you again before long. Thank you for being a friend.