June 14, 1998

In exactly one week I will have to say good-bye yet again to good friends. This is getting to be an all-too-familiar occurance, and though I know good-byes are a fact of life, I still don't handle them all that well. Helge, Jane, Sarah, Emilie, J.J., and Marcus have become as close as family to me over the past two years. They've celebrated birthdays, holidays, and just plain days with my family and me, and each occasion has been special.

We've shared joys and pains over coffee and wine and beer, and though we haven't always been able to change everything to our liking, we've always come away from these sessions feeling just a little bit better. That's friendship.

There is a good side to this good-bye. After my friends have shipped their worldly goods back to Denmark, they will spend their last 4 nights in Washington at our house. And I know that in no time at all, my husband and I will be flying over to Denmark to spend time with the Jacobsens and pick up where we left off. After all, I still have so MANY things to discuss. Tak, my friends.