At 8.30 pm on Wednesday, we said goodbye to yet another neighbor.
The Johnsons had lived at the end of our private lane, two houses down from us for just over 5 years now. They moved in with one tiny tot and moved out with two: a first grader girl and a toddler boy. (Their eldest spent the night at our house when baby #2 came into the world.)
Their 6 year old daughter has been our daughter’s BFF for so long, I don’t think either one remembers life without the other. They saw each other pretty much every day and played for hours together each week. Scheduling was never an issue. Planning was never necessary. If any one of us sensed that our child was growing restless, we’d simply text the other and check if a playdate was a possibility. Thankfully, more often than not, it was.
They were one of the very rare people we handed our kiddo to without our supervision.
We trusted them 100% to respect our guidelines concerning our daughter while she was under their roof. We even allowed them to drive her. She has memories with this family that are hers alone: outings to restaurants, to sea life park, the ice palace or the zoo; movie nights with buttery popcorn.
To say we’ll miss them greatly is an understatement. They were everything a neighbor ought to be and then some. Even as they were deep in move-out craziness, they helped US out, taking the time to load some things we wanted to dispose of since they were going to the dump.
As we hugged one last time as neighbors, our hearts were full of the knowledge that life as we’ve known it was about to change. A new chapter for all of us: those leaving and those staying behind.
Of course we’ll stay in touch. We hope we can visit each other occasionally but it will never be the same. We won’t see little E driving her pink jeep down the lane before dinner time. We will miss her little brother C’s cheerful greetings. We will no longer be daily witness to their childhood.
Our daughter cried tonight, finally realizing what she was losing. I’ve known the same heartache many times as I’ve had to say goodbye to friends over and over but this is a first for her and a very big pain for her little heart.
She’s resilient and I know she’ll be okay but right here, right now, we need to take a moment to acknowledge that it hurts and that we wished they’d stayed.
We wish that, tomorrow, we’d hear their dogs bark to announce the UPS truck.
We wish that, next week, we’d all walk together to the beach for the 4th of July fireworks.
We wish that, next year, we’d look forward to E’s birthday party.
We wish that we could, one more time, simply text them “Can the kids play?” And that they’d reply “You bet!”.
But above all we wish them farewell.
This is for you, Johnson Ohana. You left the lane but you haven’t left our hearts…
Aloha, a hui ho
I’m back! I needed to take a break these past few months due to travel and other life’s demands. I plan write more frequently now. Thank you for still being here and reading.
This brought tears to my eyes! To Emma, there was nobody more special than TQ and she loved to tell me time and time again that they were sisters…I guess in a way they were. For me, I was so driven to be closer to family, I didn’t realize how much I would miss our friendships and the safety and comfort of the lane. P.s. it is very difficult to house hunt because there is no Olomana lane out here in Washington…and I’ve been looking!
I cried reading it too!
We miss you guys so much. You were like a security blanket for us 😉.
You guys can make wherever you are into an Olomana lake look-alike. Your new neighbors don’t know yet how lucky they are.