Reflecting

Jack had one of his bosom buddies over to play today. Josh was a neighbor at our previous house, and he and Jack had the kind of friendship that I always dreamed of my little boy having. The run up the hill at the drop of a hat to see if he can play kind. The dress up and pretend kind. The rough and tumble kind. And the sweet and sensitive kind. We knew that it was a special friendship when we were neighbors, but we could not have imagined the hole in our lives that we would have when we moved away from Josh. We miss him... and his family! So, having him come over was a treat for Jack... and it was a treat for me to get to see these boys pick up where they left off and play their hearts out. Jack called Josh the night before he came over, and they came up with a BIG plan for all that they wanted to do together while he was here. Then, today I walked into the living room to find that they had made a checklist of all of those things. They wanted to make sure that they got everything that they had planned done. They wanted to sieze every moment that they had to play together. It was the cutest thing!

One of the things that they did was to make a fort. Not just any fort... the kind that covers the entire living room! It was amazing!

Ingredients For A Successful Fort:

10 Blankets
1 Mattress Pad
4 Books
2 Socks
6 Rubber Bands
4 Kitchen Chairs
1 Couch
2 Living Room Chairs

3 Pillows
2 Little Boys
2 Huge Imaginations

When we took Josh home this afternoon we stayed at his family's house for a few hours so the kids could play and Josh's mom and I could visit. We, too, picked up where we had left off. I loved spending time with my friend. I miss her.

When I was driving into the neighborhood today, I realized that I still think of this place as "my home". It is difficult for me to pass by the park and the school and the little white dog in the neighbor's yard and tell my heart that I am not going to the house on the hill that I still love so much. Although, I don't think that it is the house that makes that place feel so much like home. It is the people. The neighbors. The ones that we shared life with for 6 years. The memories of it flood me... the times that we all shared meals, and visits at the neighborhood sandbox, and holidays, and births, and deaths, and cups of sugar, and good times, and bad times. This is the place that we put down roots with others that were putting down the same kind of roots. Our lives were intertwined, and I loved it that way.

So this evening I am reflecting on the happy times that my family had in that neighborhood, I am wishing that some things in life never changed, I am grateful for friends that remain friends no matter how often we see each other, and I am hopeful that I will find a place that feels like home again.