Boyce Thompson Arboretum is located about one hour from Phoenix, Arizona in Superior, Arizona.

A few weeks before we moved, I received a message from a dear friend asking if I was doing any more photoshoots. I replied that I would love to do one more photoshoot before leaving Arizona, and photograph her son’s senior pictures. I have been photographing their family for years, and I was so excited to do one last milestone with them.

She mentioned that they were wanting to photograph at Boyce Thompson Arboretum and I was so excited! I had wanted to go, but I had never made the time to drive out there.

My neighbor, Kelly, and I had tried to make plans to get out there together, but life seemed to get in the way.

I came up with a scathingly brilliant idea for my neighbor to come to the photoshoot with me. It was at least an hour drive and I wanted to spend time with her before leaving.

It wasn’t the most glamourous invitation (“hey, you wanna do a photoshoot with me that is an hour away together and talk in the car?”), but she accepted and I was so thankful to have her company.

From the moment we moved in across the street, she was a friend – a true, call-in-the-middle-of-the-night, friend. We’ve celebrated births, adoptions, graduations, drivers licences, and the arrival of temperatures under 110. We’ve walked through job layoffs, deaths of family and friends, and the sometimes loneliness of motherhood together. We’ve stood in the cul-de-sac and watched eclipses and halloween costumes. We’ve borrowed eggs, milk, peppermint, nutmeg, oats, and more things than I can count from each other. We’ve discussed the taboo subjects of religion and politics – not always agreeing, but always learning and loving one another.

As the four of us wandered the Boyce Thompson Arboretum together, my heart was full. Nothing about preparing to move during a global pandemic had been ‘normal’. There were no goodbyes for friends, with the social distancing we were all practicing. There were no happy hours for them to tease me on how long it would take me to get my Texas accent back.

The afternoon was a gift. As I breathed deep, amazed at Creation’s beauty, I remembered that this isn’t the end for friends who love Jesus. We will love one another again, with even a greater love, which was hard for me to believe on this beautiful afternoon.