It's so hard to say goodbye...

I have issues with change. I can freely admit this and although it is something that I have learned to put up with because, well, I have no choice in the matter, I still loathe it for the most part. Today our neighbors moved to Texas and I am having a really hard time with it. As upset as I have been about it, you would think they were my best friends in the world. They weren't. We were friends, yes, but our lives were very different and until very recently, their lives have always been super busy. We got along great and spent time together trick or treating, doing neighborly things, etc but it's not like we were sitting at each other's kitchen tables every week having coffee (or wine). But, our daughters were friends - best friends. They started playing together three years ago when they moved in and other than the occasional tiff, have been playing together nearly every day since. They would play for hours upon hours almost always at our house (they have four kids to our one so that was completely understandable). They had their first sleepover together this year, the little girl went on part of our vacation with us, she went to family parities with us, to dinner, the store, she ate at our house some weeks for nights on end. At times it was like having another child and I must say by and large, I loved it. She seemed like if not another daughter to me, then a niece. I have watched the girls grow up together and today I watched them say goodbye and it just broke my heart. There will be no more running next door to see if the other can play while I watch out the window, followed by watching them skip down the sidewalk together holding hands. No more overhearing their sweet little conversations as they work out the daily trials of their lives. It is just so sad to me. My heart breaks for what my daughter is losing and there is no way for me to fix it. She may meet another best friend, I'm sure she will but I just don't know for certain that she will have with another person what she's had with this child. So, today was a very sad day - for my little girl, for our sweet little neighbor and for me!