Friday, June 5, 2015

Changes and Staying the Same

Last week Kennerly and I took a mommy/daughter road trip to Virginia. A very good friend (and sorority sister) of mine was getting married and it gave us the perfect opportunity to make a little trip out of it. I grew up in Fairfax, most of my friends still live there and until recently most of my immediate family (minus Cameron who is up here with me...or rather, I'm up here with him...) live there.

It's always been a struggle to get everything in while I'm there. Ever since I moved to Connecticut, I try to plan it all out when I go down to make sure I am able to split time between family, high school friends and college friends. I always stayed with my parents, maybe some nights with the mini White's because how can you say no to those little niece and nephew faces when they ask if Auntie Keek is gonna have a sleepover with them?! I never stayed with friends, M7 or Zeta. Now that my parents live in CT, I no longer really have a home base down there. My childhood home is no longer ours. That's a whole other blog though...

Jaime and Clifton are the best and are obviously happy to have me whenever I am in town, and I am so grateful that they have offered up their home as my new home base down there. But it got me thinking that why not make a trip to stay with a friend? And what better friend than one who has a little nugget only six weeks older than mine?! Enter: Annie Couns. My pledge sister, my soulmate, my best of the best. Anna and I really do have a connection that is on another level, it's been there from when we first met and has only grown stronger throughout the years. The fact that we get to do this mommy thing together is beyond a blessing. We talk pretty much everyday, texting about diaper rashes, quirky toddler behavior, recipes, water tables, amazon prime orders, you name it. So when I was planning my trip for Jessica's wedding, I said hey! why not extend the trip and have an actual visit with Anna?!

As I mentioned before, my trips to VA are usually jam packed with family and it's hard to get to see everyone I want to spend time with. And even though Anna lives in Northern Virginia, it isn't very close to where I usually stay. So, this time I decided to stay with her. We had two whole days of pure Feedy and Kennie bliss! (Dennis and Ivy were there too, and definitely added to the fun:)

It was so awesome to spend uninterrupted time with Anna and to watch our girls play together. Fiona taught Kennerly how to go through the dog door, Kennerly attempted showing Fiona how fun pools are, they played with chalk, bubbles and water tables, they ate meals together, clinked sippy cups to cheers, shared food, wore matching outfits, went to music class and made lots of memories.

Then, I dropped Kennie off with Uncle Clif and Auntie Jaime for my first full overnight away from my baby. Definitely not the easiest thing I've ever had to do. She was fine...I wasn't worried about her. Me on the other hand? A bit of a wreck. But I knew where I was headed and that was to a place full of Zetas, a lot of whom were in the same boat without their babies!

Anna, Dennis and I headed off for our road trip to Reedville. When we got there, we saw another pledge sister of ours, Erin, then Nicole and Brad and tiny baby Bailey (that baby got to come to the wedding with us;) And Kris, who I have always adored for many reasons, most of which because he's just a really good guy, but also because he reminds me of my oldest brother and happens to be (fraternity) brothers with Clifton and married to one of my favorite people on the planet, Margie!

A big group of us went out to dinner and had a great time catching up and enjoying one another's company. Then it was wedding time! After Melanie and I were left behind at the restaurant with no one to follow...we found our way to the ceremony site! Which was FULL of Zetas and Longwood alum! This was the closest I have been to a college reunion, so thank you Jessica for getting married!

It was all so beautiful, and it was absolute bliss looking around and seeing so many faces from my college years. Soooometimes I get social anxiety and I told myself to just say hi to everyone and have fun. The problem is...Facebook. I know a lot of what is going on in these people's lives even though I haven't seen them in years, and maybe even some I am FB friends with who I haven't ever met or only met a few times on a random Richmond visit. So, I could pretend to just be casual and ask how things are, what's going on in your life? Or I could drink way too much wine and blabber on about how beautiful said Facebook Zeta friends are...(I'm lookin' at you, Danielle Beckner...Walton:)

Either way, I saw so many beautiful faces I haven't seen in way too long and I had SO much fun hanging out and dancing with these girls. It was like nothing had changed, we were all on a dance floor, drinks in hand, singing (screaming) along with the music, jumping up and down, having the time of our lives. Take away Reedville, replace with Farmville and you have us almost 10 years ago. It amazes me how much stays the same even throughout all the change. We are engaged, married, living with a boy, have babies, own homes, are pregnant...but there we were, on a dance floor bouncing and smiling like we were 21 on bar night in Farmville. This time we had a nice, adult dinner instead of drinking Arbor Mist or Natty on the hall, we were celebrating a union of love instead of a 21st birthday, but the feelings were the same, the people were the same and I cannot say enough how much it means to me to have such wonderful women in my life. So, thank you Longwood, thank you Zeta and thank you MRS. FEARNS for a giving us a reason to do it all!

Let's do it again soon...with even more Zeta's!!!