Well, today is Stephanie’s last day in Irvine.

She’s been my friend for a little over a year now, and it’s been a lot of fun. Amie, Jonathan, and I spent a lot of time trying to help her learn about the ways of the world outside of her small, maternally-imposed bubble, and now comes the true test to see if our help has helped. Our little one is going off to college in New York City.

Thanks to us, she knows that Irish Cream isn’t just cream. She knows that normal people don’t vacuum their shoes. She knows that you don’t have to stop at the meter if you’re using the carpool lane of the onramp. She knows how to put in a tampon.

The funny thing about Stephanie, though, is that she seems really naive and helpless when she’s in a group, but somehow she’s amazingly resourceful and independent when she’s alone. If she needed to get to Los Angeles and didn’t have access to a car, she’d find out the bus schedule and get herself there. She’s that kind of person. So I think she’ll be okay in New York.

Regardless of that, I’m sure she’ll have great stories to tell her friends back home about her strange and unusual experiences there. And I hope she tells us those stories often because we’ll really miss her in the meantime.