DeDIcAtioN to mY FrIEndS.

WARNING: This is the cheesiest blog I have written yet, Don't judge my sappiness. :).

Two and a half months in Jinhua. Some days it feels like I have been here for two minutes, other's it feels like I have been here for two years.  I got to thinking this weekend. (I know, scary right). I am currently in a place where I am desperately missing my friends. I am missing everything about YOU. I am not missing any particular place, or time in my life, I am just missing MY friends.  You know who you are, and I want to dedicate this to YOU, and how AWESOME you are, and give a HUGE thank-you for everything we have been through together. I miss you. I think of you every day. (well not every day, but most) ;). You help me embrace the happy times, and the rough times, while travelling here in China. 

Yep. You. You have been my friend for years, months, minutes, who's counting.  I LOVE you. Everything about YOU. You know who you are. You are the one who wiped my tears, lifted me up when I was down, gave me a place to sleep, a place to live, a place to call home, scolded me when I needed it, got wastey pants and walked me home, drank shooters, or made me do shooters, mooned people on the street with me, drank wine with me, bar stool rodeoed with me, we hiked mountains, slept on mountains, skied, had crushes on stupid boys, slept with stupid boys, we have drank beers, tea, coffee, talked about our bowel movements, I have met your children and they are beautiful, we have helped each other through breakups, get togethers, and breakup's again.  We have dance partied in more places than I can count, we have went mountain biking, I wore a bridesmaid dress in your wedding, we travelled to amazing places, spent a summer sleeping in a tent, and most importantly, we have had so much FUN together.

I want you to know that you mean the world to me, and THANK-YOU! 

I realized this weekend (well, not all this weekend, but to summarize...), that no matter where we are in the world, our friends are who help us through the good times and the rough times. My friends are my family, my family are my friends. Living in China, with limited access to meeting new people, a staff who isn't super close, and a language barrier to top it off has helped me realize that regardless of the mountains, clean water, vast open spaces with few people living in them, without your friends in close proximity, you really have to rely on yourself and that inner love that we all work so hard to find. 

Thank goodness my friends are AWESOME, because you have given me the strength I need to move forward, embrace my time here and do the best I can, where I am, with what I have.

I LOVE YOU!