Ellie! There's a turtle in the street!

Apparently, that's the surefire phrase guaranteed to get me out of the house. A week ago, I was sitting around my house when my little brother came rushing in with the news. I thought it was a little odd that he had just left the poor thing in the street, but I didn't have much time to analyze it before a red sheet was thrown over my head, and a pseudo-gruff voice on the verge of laughter demanded, "Where's the piece of resistance!"

It had been a desire of my friend Lydia to be pranked at some point in her life. So, the night before, I and a couple of her other good friends had taken it upon ourselves to stuff her jeep with balloons during a farewell concert I was playing in. It was a fantastic concert, by the way. Well, Lydia was quite surprised and delighted by the balloons, some with funny faces drawn on them, others filled with puns and cheesy pickup lines.

Unbeknownst to, well, prettymuch anybody, it had been a desire of mine to be kidnapped by my friends to go do something fun. And that's exactly what Lydia and my brother did the day after the concert and balloon pranking. I was absolutely thrilled! We went to dinner and then saw a fun movie together, and I was so happy to be having some fun time with my best buds before my impending move out to California. But, as we drove home from the movie theater, I started feeling sad because I knew I would have to say goodbye soon. I'm not good at goodbyes. I never know what to say or how to act when it's not quite time to say the final farewell but you know it's about to happen. I usually just get really quiet and then feel terrible for not taking advantage of the last moments of talking. So most of the car ride back home was spent in relative silence on my part.

My friends are really, really sneaky.

As we pulled up in front of my house, I steeled myself, determined that I would not cry at my parting with Lydia. We said our sappy encouraging speeches and hugged enthusiastically, then Lydia said she'd probably get in her car and cry and I half-angrily and half-laughing disagreed, as that would make me cry. Lydia drove away, and I walked in a melancholy way up to my front door and waited for Jonathan to unlock it. By this point, I was getting ready to just go in my room and be melancholy the rest of the night, thinking about how I wished I just had a little more time with my dearest friends.

But as the door opened, I noticed something strange - the living room was clean. Remarkably clean. Clearly, something was afoot.

And thus, the tearful feels-fest began.

My thoroughly amazing mother had organized a surprise-birthday-going-away-moon-themed tea party with some of the very best of my lady friends.

When I first walked into the backyard, I saw that there were gorgeous lights strung up - I assumed my family had arranged to have an early birthday celebration or something. Then, my friends sprang out from behind tables and chairs and yelled "Surprise!!!" and I was immediately reduced to a puddle of emotion. People then thought it appropriate to rush me with hugs, as seen in the photos above.

Seriously, these photos don't even begin to do the event justice. The weather was absolutely perfect, just a few clouds in the sky to set off the moonlight, crickets lightly but not obnoxiously chirping, twinkle lights and paper lanterns to mimic the moon and stars all around the back yard, and beautiful old china and old-fashioned oil lamps decking the tables. My mom had spent the entire day cooking a menu of fabulous gluten-free tea treats, including quiche with all my favorite things (bacon, goat cheese, and sun-dried tomatoes). To set it all off, my mom and brother had put together a playlist of moon-themed and favorite songs of mine, ranging from Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, to Chopin, Ravel, and Vaughan Williams, even Treasure Planet, Bon Iver, and Sleeping At Last. Many of the songs made me tear up - not just because of the song itself, although many are that emotionally stirring, but because I knew how much thought had gone into the choosing of the songs on the part of my mom and brother. It just highlighted the way they both know me so well, and how much I'm going to miss them.

All of this, and surrounded by the people I love most. It was truly magical.

The lovely tea-makers and servers, Kate and Melia

Some of my favorite hooligans, Katie, August, Hollen, and Rachel

The sneaky, sneaky Lydia, plus darlings Nikki and Heather

Musician buddy Anna, intrepid market ladies Rachel and Sam, and General Fun (aka Lorien)

Even Grandma came out to enjoy the festivities!

One very, very blessed girl who misses you all terribly

In short, the night was spectacular. It was filled with delicious tea, sumptuous snacks, lovely conversation, and lots of laughs. There was even one moment when we were all sitting around one table, and we just stopped because a particularly poignant Sleeping At Last song called "In The Embers" was playing (yes, I know I only talk about SAL on this blog. Shush.). I just looked at Rachel (who also loves the band quite a lot) and we started tearing up. Then, everybody just sat and listened.

"Like fireworks we pull apart the dark -
Compete against the stars with all of our hearts,
Til our temporary brilliance turns to ash,
We pull apart the darkness while we can"

It was a perfectly-timed and beautiful reassurance for me. That's what my friends were all doing there in the glow of the moonlight - pulling apart the sadness of parting and enjoying the light of friendship. It also served as a reminder of why I'm striking out on this crazy adventure. Even though I'm going away and leaving a lot behind, I'm doing it for a purpose. Maybe a purpose that I can't completely see yet, but while I'm here, I want to pull apart the darkness while I can, and never forget all the beautiful people who light up my life wherever they happen to be on the globe.