I’ve mentioned her before. She is my best friend from high school. And she is a wonderful, gentle soul. Yet love has eluded her. She has had relationships, a good deal of them really, but nothing that has lead to a lasting, future-driven love. She dated a really damaged man for a long time, and I think she spent a number of years thinking she could change him. But that didn’t happen, and she managed to push through it to realize she wanted more and better for herself. She wants to meet a man who can love her completely and one that wants to be her partner for life. If only it were that simple.

But as she continues that search for love, time is ticking away. Her window for having a child is closing, and she desperately wants to carry her own child. So this has forced her to picture a different future for herself. One that doesn’t quite go the traditional “meet, fall in love, marry, have a baby” route. And fortunately love and family is defined so many different ways today, it’s not a hard scenario. Just a different one she pictured for herself.

And she’s terrified.

Jumping into the unknown is always scary. A baby? Can she do this alone? What will her support system look like? This new reality has obviously kicked up a lot of questions for her. She wonders if she can really do it alone. She lives in L.A. and her family is back East. Her closest friends have married and moved out of the city. And while she has an amazing life there and has built a business for herself there, there is a part of her that wonders if it will be enough.

Now selfishly, I want her to move back East. I miss my Burger terribly. I told her that she could move in with me and that we could raise her daughter alongside of my kids in a very Kate and Allie way. (That reference may elude some, so Google it). LOL. But truth be told, I’m nervous for her, and not because I don’t think she can do it. I know she can. I know many wonderful women raising children completely on their own. But I do know the loneliness that can come along with that. And being a single parent is a commitment that only single parents can understand. She won’t be sharing custody of this child. There won’t be every other weekend free to explore her single self.

That’s a new reality.

So as she meets with doctors and plans for pregnancy, I will do everything I can from across to country to support her. Secretly hoping all the while that she’ll pack it in and come home to waiting arms of friends and family, and one darling friend who has endless love for babies and for her friend who is embarking on a wild new adventure.