Sunday, January 16, 2011

BFFs an Ocean Apart

This summer, Gabi experienced her first true heartbreak when her best friend moved back to America.  Gabi and Kelekah met the day we stepped off the plane in Japan, and were joined at the hip from that day forward.  They shared the same birthday, born literally within minutes of each other, and Kelekah lived in the exact same building that I lived in as a kid (just 3 buildings down from us).  And they both had little brothers 11 years younger than themselves.  Both are great students and runners, teammates on both the cross-country and track teams for 3 years.  

Fortunately K's family had arrived in Japan only a month before us, which meant the girls could count on at least 3 years together.  In the military, most families move every 3 - 4 years, so if you're unlucky enough to arrive at a base and become good friends with someone who's already been there 2 + years, chances are you won't be together long.  

G and K were completely inseparable at all times, so you can imagine their complete devastation when we learned K's family would be re-locating in July last year, especially considering we weren't planning on leaving Japan any time soon.

But there is a silver lining for the broken hearted BFFs:  Technology is a truly awesome thing!  G and K Skype regularly, at least 3 times a week.  They routinely hook up when one or the other is getting ready for school, and thanks to the portability of their laptops and handy-dandy webcams, they peruse each other's closets via internet "Wear that pink shirt, with those jeans!"  "What do you think of this scarf with that sweater?" and even take the laptop into the bathroom to experiment with hairstyles together!  

While we were still in the hotel, I found Gabi in the bathroom one Saturday night, pre-hair styling session (which explains the dead wombat on G's head), and found the girls playing a rousing game of UNO, together!  Thanks to technology, they can best friends forever, no matter how far apart they are!




We miss you Kelekah!


5 comments:

gaijinwife said...

God, I think even I'm missing Kelekah now. It is so fabulous that they can continue to be best friends oceans apart. Love the in-the-bathroom hair styling skype session.

Nakamuras on Saipan said...

HI! Thanks for stopping by my blog! After looking around your blog I am guessing that you guys are a military family...? My daughter and son-in-law is are the army (duh from my blog pics)-both Black Hawk mechanics. She is supposed to enter flight school after she gets back from her deployment. That girls never could keep her feet on the ground!! I put a link to your blog on my home page...is that ok?

Yes...thank goodness for the internet...keeps families and friends close!!

shinshu life said...

I'm still in contact with my BF from school and thanks to skype and FB it hardly feels like we're separated by a whole ocean at all!

I'm trying to get my head around it but G has done three years of school already? So come September she's off to Uni? or one more year of school? Do you guys have a Uni on base, too?

Robin Vistnes said...

I miss you while I read about G and K. She should at least be encouraged by our relationship. When do you want to get together for a rousing game of Uno!
Love you so much

Robin Vistnes said...

When I read the title, I thought it was about us...