Goodbye Hurtubise Family!

Ava has been friends with Cosette Hurtubise since they met in Kindergarten class at Murdock.

Last week, Cosette's family moved back to Ohio, where her Mom Kate will be starting work as a Honda employee again. They originally moved down so Jean could attend Life University to obtain his degree in Chirpractic medicine. He finishes up in the next month.

We first met them when they participated in the East Cobber Parade, walking with us and Mrs. Mckenzie, as part of the Teacher of the Year float.

One day, around February of 2012, I got a call while I was our car was in the shop. Kate, Cosette's Mom, called and said "Hi, is this Ava's mom?" My heart sank, upon hearing that. I thought something was wrong. She told me she was Cosette's Mom and saw a note in Cosette's backpack that had my phone number on it. She said that Cosette had mentioned wanting to have a play date with Ava. I had to laugh. The girls were definitely planning their own social lives, obviously! We decided to meet the following Saturday at the East Cobb Park and have a picnic together. She mentioned it was her birthday, but that it shouldn't matter. I picked up some balloons, an African violet plant and threw some homemade jelly jars in a bag, to give to her as a birthday present. We spent forever at the park that day, getting to know each other. I found a kindred spirit in her. And they were from Michigan! They both grew up in the Midland area, although Jean's family is from Canada. Fellow Northerners. Yay!

Ava and Cosette got along famously. The girls ended up being Girl Scout Daisies together. Cosette's little brother (Rejean = son of Jean) is nicknamed "Bear". Bear and Liam got along so well, too! They all took gymnastics together at Modern Gymnastics. We had many a play date over at their house, and had them over to our house, as well. Their littlest sister, Elise, was born New Years Eve of 2012, rounding out the Hurtubise bunch. She is adorable.

Jean's schooling will be concluding soon, so Kate and the kids made their way up to Ohio, to settle in before the school year started there.

I told Kate that it's hard to find people who seem to have their priorities straight in life. She is an amazing mom, wife, friend, engineer and just plain cool. She wins bonus points for being from Michigan, too!

Ironically, our "goodbye" to them was meeting at the park for a picnic, where we first spent hours getting to know each other. I was a little teary, thinking about how our friendship has come full circle. We gave Ava's e-mail address to Kate, to let the girls e-mail each other back and forth. Hopefully they will stay in touch over the years. They are a sweet family.

Hurtubise family, you will be so missed!

Peace, love and penpals,
Shelly Carey