It is a truth universally acknowledged that planning a friends’ trip as an adult is a nearly impossible task—which makes last weekend all the more memorable. And impressive! We’ve been talking about having Ngaire and Isa (and, by extension, Ben) up to Coeur d’Alene for years now. And last week, we finally did it! 

We persevered through some challenges to make it happen. Ngaire and Ben crossed paths—literally, and very forcefully—with a deer just outside of Missoula on their drive, leaving their rental car completely trashed and Ngaire’s ankle worse for wear. The weather decided to turn incredibly ugly (typical CdA move—she does this to discourage people from moving up here), so we also had to pivot away from the water activities we had planned and get creative with the itinerary. 

Still, since the purpose of the trip was to get some quality time in together, it was a success! We played pickleball, swam a bit, had a couple game nights (courtesy of Ngaire and Ben’s Switch), went fishing, visited the farmer’s market, went to church, and ate literally ALL the ice cream in CdA lol. 

Can I just say that building a life full of love as an adult requires a lot of hard work? When you’re grown, you aren’t handed as many opportunities to meet new people organically as you are in high school or college. You have your own responsibilities, stresses, and work to attend to. If you want connection, you have to go looking for it—it doesn’t just come to you. 

Even once you do build relationships with people, things won’t stay the same forever. We get busy, schedules change, and people move. Our journeys take us different places, so we create a web of relationships which can stretch all over the world. 

I like to picture that image. I feel comforted knowing that there are people I love and opportunities for more memories and growth waiting, dormant, in so many places. But the other side of that coin is that it’s pretty rare to have all, or even some, of the people you love in one place at one time. 

If you want quality time with friends and family that aren’t in your immediate orbit, you have to coordinate it very intentionally. But the joy that comes from knowing you care enough about each other to make the effort is palpable. For me, it affirms the love I have for others, and the love they have for me, in a way that can’t happen when we’re seeing each other frequently and there are few barriers to overcome to be together.

As all our visitors from this past weekend know, I hope to make this a repeat experience! And that’s totally the point—committing to be together, and then working to make it happen. I hope to execute even half as well as my friends, who model this for me time and time again.