It's so haaaaaard...to say good byyyyye...

Well, it's the beginning of PDaniel's fifth year in grad school, which means that many of the lovely friends we've made here are gone, or leaving soon. Happily, even in this pitiful economy, many of them have still managed to find jobs this year! Whoopee!

The down side is, most of Dangerboy's friends--whom he has known basically his whole short life--will be leaving, or have already. For example, all the other kids in this picture, who DB has played with on a regular basis, will be gone by the end of the year:These friends are gone already (to work at a certain Ivy League school, the lucky stiffs):DB will most miss, I think, his best buddy Tiger Lily, who moved last month. She was our neighbor for almost four years, and they played together almost every day. I'm not sure the adoration was equal on both sides--girls can be fickle--but DB has loved her dearly.

DB had been thinking about Tiger Lily, and told me one day, "Mom, when I'm big like Daddy, and (Tiger Lily)'s big like you, I want to marry with her." Later on, after he had seen the movie Up, he said that he would marry her and move to South America. He even picked a ring from my costume jewelry and presented it to her when she came for her goodbye play date. I didn't hear the actually proposal, but I know she accepted, because I heard her yell across the playground "(DB), let's marry now!"

We miss you, Tiger Lily! (And the rest of your family too!) Here's a picture of the happy couple (with ring and DB's other friend Cheetah-Cute):