Saying goodbye means new beginnings and change, but also it means saying goodbye :(

Reasons why I will miss Katie:
1. She is really thoughtful and considerate.  Little things like bringing me a cake for my birthday or baking cupcakes for our friend.
2. She invites us over for pizza or japanese new year or karaoke.
3. We have fun together.  It feels very natural to laugh and talk and be together. Just hanging out at our houses, going to the park, walking around the mall, hanging out at boba or coffee.
4. She's a crazy driver.
5. Her daughter loves my son. Make that, Katie and her whole family love my son! :)
6. I'm amazed and respect her hard work, that she is able to do so much even with a baby.. study and pass the CPA, take her daughter to different modeling jobs, go to different places like LA or SF, stay in good shape and hit the gym, get a job and move.
7. Who else in the world do I know that has as much in common with me?? We both are half-japanese with bilingual japanese husbands.  We both went to the same elementary school.  We both live with our parents.  We live just minutes from each other.  We both went into labor at the same hospital.  Our kids are just a day apart.  If they had had a boy, they would have named him Noah (which is Kai's first legal name.)  If we had had a girl, we were going to name her Keila (their daughter's name!)
8. She makes me laugh.
9. Out of all the other mom friends I know, I can always count on chatting with Katie online or calling her up and just getting together, no planning or scheduling necessary.
10.  She always has some great info to share from the internet, like a cooking-with-dog youtube video on cooking japanese food.
11. She gave me confidence to get out of the house and to breastfeed Kai outside the house.
12.  I could talk to her about all my worries and questions about Kai and felt like someone else could relate.
13.  It has been so great to watch Kai and Keila grow and change together.  They really have become best friends. 
14. We have shared so many great memories--singing karaoke, going for walks, playing at the park, meeting up at starbucks, sharing weird stories about "Ping" at Tapioca express, getting my butt kicked at blokus, chatting online and looking at youtube videos, going to Obon, dressing our kids up in funky christmas outfits, going trick or treating, going swimming, having "baby parties" just so we can sit around and eat cookies, playing Wii bowling with our babies, celebrating birthdays, trying zumba together, going to free salon events for free food and drinks, going to mochi tsuki.  It is weird that we won't share as many memories together from now on as we have, unless we take trips to see each other..

Our friends, the Fukudas, who we have known as long as our children have been alive, have become very dear to us.  They have been convenient, easy, natural, comfortable, fun, wonderful to know.  You don't always meet people like that.  I know that orange county life will treat them well and they will be happy and successful no matter where they go, but we will really miss them!