When one of my closest and dearest friends for the last 20 years told me she was moving to San Diego because her husband got a new job, I was crushed.  Don’t get me wrong.  I have a wonderful gaggle of BFFs on whom I depend.  Debbie just happened to be one I’ve known since I was first married.  She lived above us in the same apartment building.  My husband’s family had known her family since they were kids.  And she was moving.

Who else would trade dog sitting services?  Who else would watch the Twilight Saga movies with me with equal amounts of love and hate?  Who else would watch Casino Royale with me and hope the DVD gets stuck again and again on the scene when James Bond walks in from the ocean to the beach?  Who else would beta read my first drafts, blush like crazy, and still be able to look me in the eye after?

I was dealing with the news of the move quite well until one of our friends asked the question that made it real:

“Who will get custody of the Cricut machine?”

*screeching breaks*

Debbie and I love to scrapbook. We got together so often that we owned a Cricut Express together (why settle for the 6-inch machine when you can have 12 inches).  (Hey, this blog is rated PG to PG-13!)

We also owned about 40 cartridges and two Jukeboxes so we could keep twelve catridges going at once. (Hey, we are TAME lameusers of the Cricut.  You should see what other people do and the number of they own. Check them out on Pinterest–you may never leave.)

Love this thing.  My kids love it, too.  We’ve used it for school, art, and wall vinyl projects.

Who will get to keep the best tool ever?  How we decide something like that?  It was so unfair!  *pout*

Granted it lived at her house most of the time.  My ‘crapbooking (my husband’s word) closet was already leaking paper and albums and other ‘crapping supplies.

But we’d gone halfsies on it.  Neither of us could imagine life without it. Naturally, we did what any other scrapbooking moms would do.

We bought another one and split the cost.  Another set of mats, tools, and a new font cartridge might have found their way into the cart, too.  I mean, really, you have to have the tools, and we had to have an even number of cartridges.  Think this through, people.

Then, we took turns picking our cartridges teams until the boxes players were evenly distributed. There were some cartridges that we would both miss and have to buy our own.

I would miss Debbie more than the cartridges, but we purposely left all that unsaid.  The tears were just too close to the surface.  There’s no crying in movingscrapbooking.  It wasn’t as if she wouldn’t be back and bring a few of the cartridges with her to visit.  She really was just a phone call or email away.

Seriously, I was in denial even on the day she and her family moved.  The next scrapbooking retreat felt a little odd without her.

A little over two years later, Debbie is back in Texas.  Just in time, too, because the second part of Breaking Dawn is coming out this fall.  I need someone to watch it with me who will be just as likely to make fun of the way the werewolves talk as she will love the overall storyline (and appreciate the way Stephenie Meyer pulled off an amazing amount of work).  I feel a marathon movie event in the works.

So…Do we tell our husbands that the move to San Diego in the first place was really a ruse to make sure we both had our own Cricuts?

Nah.  It was a brave sacrifice and should be remembered that way.  *shhhh*

I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you about my favorite place to hang out with my BFFs. The Sisters’ Hideaway is the BEST scrapbooking or crafting  or writing or retreating getaway in North Texas, in my opinion.  It’s a weekend away from everything else–no cooking, no cleaning, no interruptions from kids, pets, or husbands (sometimes they call).   Some people scrapbook, others sew, make jewelry, read, and watch movies.  I split my time between scrapbooking and writing.  Granted, I know the sisters and love them (they didn’t ask me to mention them, by the way).  They have truly done a fabulous job.  I get to go there soon.  So excited!

Do you have any BFF stories?  Did you ever share something with your BFF and wish you had your own?  Give me the scoop.