New York, New York. I’m coming for you! And the reason why I’m going.

I’m going to New York in August. It’s a trip that I’ve been planning and wishing for since I was 21 years old. I’ve never been overseas, I’ve never wanted to go. We had our babies at a young age because we wanted to spend our early 20s raising a family. Raising Men. I’ve always wanted to be a young mom, and I can see the benefit for the boys in every way.

I turn 30 this year. Benjamin will be 4 and Noah almost 6 years old by then, so it’s time. They’re old enough to spend a few days without mom and indulge in some precious one-on-one time with dad. In truth, I think that all three of the boys are looking forward to some ‘guy time’ without mom’s watchful “Goof grief, get off that railing! Go wash your hands, get out of that tree, that’s too much sugar!” nagging and protecting. I suspect they’ll spend all their time watching boy movies, making forts, sleeping in the lounge and playing all those “I give it ten seconds until one of you is crying” games.

But the reason that I am going overseas is because I grew up with the most spectacular girl, Bethany. Growing up, her parents owned the house 3 up from mine, and we’ve been intertwined since we were very little girls. We went through everything together and lived in each others homes. We played in the parks across from our houses and had to be indoors by the time the streetlights came on. We rode bicycles, roller skated, set up lemonade stands and giggled in the church pews together. We were best friends straight through primary school and in to high school where we walked the 3 blocks to school and back every day for 5 years, until she left. Her parents are missionaries and work for Christ. They are an American family that served in South Africa for all those years, and then Bethany had to go back to attend University in the States.

I have felt heartache before, but no break up or broken heart that you’ve ever experienced compares to losing your very best and closest friend in such a way. I witnessed her youth – her life, and she mine. Her parents are  the most wonderful, warm and generous people that you’ve ever met. She was raised without a television or computer games, so we spent all our time at her house playing barbies, devouring Archie comics, baking, playing board games, reading books, playing charades, hide and seek, putting plays together, making forts, playing piano, reading scriptures, listening to stories, singing hymns, building puzzles, making tea, doing chores and scribbling very deep and important secrets in to our dairies together. Our childhood was precious, it was free and we grew together through all of it. From first crushes, puberty, heart breaks, pressures, hobbies, different friends – we always stayed together. She came back to South Africa for a short visit when I was 21 years old.

We wrote letters on and off for a few years as we went through university, first jobs and fighting our way in to this brand new world, apart. As email became more accessible, we continued writing to each other almost daily. Over the past few years, we’ve become closer than ever. This is a friend that I’ve had in my heart since I was a very little girl. She’s the Godmother to our boys, and I’d hand them over to her in a second knowing  that they’d be raised exactly as I would want them to be. Bethany is the most precious, kind and GOOD human that you’ve ever met. I have an incredible amount of respect for her. I have bushels, bundles, wagons and mountains of love for her.

Now that we’re both settled in to our careers… She’s a Research Assistant at The Morton Arboretum, a non-profit botanical garden with a major focus on tree conservation. She works in the Systematics Laboratory and studies the genetics of trees. The manages a lab and extracts DNA from plants, sequences the DNA is lab procedures and analyzes the data. They’re interested in how species are related to each other, and how they got to the new world. In short, she’s a genius. Me? I work on Facebook. She totally still loves me though, right Beth?

I told myself that as soon as I could, I would go see her.  She is the first person that I tell anything to and in many cases, the only person. I don’t have a single secret from her. A few months ago she sent me a little video clip of her just chatting to the camera and saying hi to me. Hearing her voice, seeing her familiar mannerisms and quirks drove me to absolute, wrenching tears. Since then I’ve been putting every silver penny aside to make this possible. To see the other half of my heart again. My Bethany.

As you can imagine, we’re both incredibly excited. My first trip overseas will be to see my best friend, and to celebrate my 30th birthday with her. I can’t explain how much this means to me. She lives in Chicago and has never been to New York either. We’re both just giddy, and grateful, and overwhelmed.

I’m doing loads of research on New York as we’ll be exploring for about ten days. If you have any info or recommendations, please send them our way. I’ll talk about this a little more again soon, as more details are finalized. In the meantime… Can you feel my heart beating? Can you?