I am feeling sad today.  My dear friend and next door neighbor moved today. I've known for a few months that this was happening so it's not a surprise...just the finality of watching them load up their moving van and drive away that left me with a big empty feeling inside.
The Winklers have lived next door for about 20 years and we have been through a lot together.  We raised our kids together, served in the church together, even worked together but I think what I will miss most is just being able to lean over the back fence and sit and chat with Leslie.(Tiny barking furiously all the while)
I love love love their daughter Faith.  I consider her a dear friend also as I watched her grow up and become a beautiful young woman.  She's kind of a special one.  And their son Aaron was also close to our family as him and Candice had little romances over the years, then him and Faith stayed in mum's house while they went to school at Utah State.
I guess I first got to know Leslie from Cleo and Merrill.   I worked with Cleo in the Relief Society when we were first made a ward and we became good friends.  We have stayed close over all of these years.  A few years later, Cleo and Leslie opened up a flower shop up the street.  They knew I loved flowers too so they asked me to work there with them.  That was the funnest job you could ever have!  They were just a delight to work with and I got to arrange flowers!  Seriously the best job ever. We spent a lot of time together, especially for school dances, mothers day and valentines day. We would work till the wee hours of the morning making boutonnieres but it wasn't ever a drudgery.  We would talk and laugh and eat goodies while we filled all the orders.
After a few years, the store struggled to keep going...( I think it was from Cleo and Leslie's great generosity...they were always giving things away or asking very little for what others were charging much more for)  It was a sad day when they closed their doors.
We had lots of other fun times just being neighbors with them.  We ( and when I say we I mean Kelley) liked to play tricks on them ( which they would always return ten times) Things that come to mind are putting their garbage cans on the roof, nailing them shut and painting them red.  She got us back with re-arranging all the furniture while we were on vacation.  Oh then there was the time we built a giant snowman and put it on their front porch so they couldn't open the front door.
Leslie has had a lot of health problems over the years but this last one is what pushed them to make this move.  She has terrible back pain and needs to have surgery but the doctor told her she can't go up and down stairs any more.  Then Harold has had so many problems with his knees, he cant go up and down the stairs anymore either.  With their house pretty much identical to ours, they can't really avoid the stairs so they decided to move.
I found out in a round about way...Kelley was calling her to set up an appointment for her to see the bishop about a calling...( I wanted her to be the personal progress leader in YW)  She asked if it was about a new calling and Kelley said yes.  She said "well I better tell you now that we aren't going to be here much longer" and told him about their problems.  Then the next day, their was a for sale sign in their front yard.  I had a pretty hard time accepting this so I went right over to talk to her.  She told me it was true and we had a good long cry.
They have had two families fall through after they thought they had sold it because of financing.  I was OK with that and hoped they would never sell it.  I know it's wrong, but I wanted to keep them around as long as possible.  Then this last family ( a young couple with a little girl) was able to make the deal go through so it's done.  This morning a big moving truck was parked in front of their house.  I had to go to a young women basketball training all morning and when I got home, the truck was gone.  I didn't even say goodbye.  I will find out where she lives though and go visit her.  It will be harder, but it will be worth it to stay in touch with her.  She is one of those people that you know will be your friend for life.