Another one bites the dust

Last night David and I had our friends Emily and Matt Murphy over for dinner because they are leaving Friday to move back home to Maine. They have lived here a year longer than us and finally got so homesick that they've decided to move home. Of course being around Emily, who is obviously excited about seeing her family and talks about all the stuff she'll soon be doing with them, really makes me miss my family. I try to listen to her and not be discouraged myself. Emily has a younger sister who just started college so she wants to be there to help, she misses her parents, the weather, fresh water without crocodiles, and old friends. And its hard to listen to because it brings up memories for me.
They were also good friends to us. We used to go to the beach together, our dogs all played together. (Poor Roman is losing his 2nd girlfriend in a year) They were also our first friends to do Friday card night with us. We used to play cards on Fridays every other week. I met Emily when I worked at Everglades University. Living here has only been hard in that there are so many people that we've met and become close to, and then move away. I'm not kidding, there's probably been at least 10 friends of ours that have moved away within the year and a half we've lived here. I don't really know what it is, the heat, the average age of the population here, but its hard to see more friends go every year. Makes it even harder to have a positive attitude about pursuing new friends as well, since there's a chance they'll move away anyways. Maybe there's like a 2 year cut off for sanity here in Sarasota. That means we have about 6 months to figure out how we feel. But I think its all about your attitude and perception about the place you live. As my mother always said, "hapiness is a choice". There's beauty everywhere and even though it may not be as comfortable as home, it still has the possibility to be your home. Most of my old friends are all over the globe right now, which makes it easier I guess in not feeling your missing out on so much. But it definately has me thinking, and praying.