Friends

Watching Ruby develop friendships reminds me of the excitement you feel when you meet someone who likes to be silly with you, likes to play similar games and activities and somehow ends up opening new "windows" of interest.  I love to watch her grow before my eyes when she's with her friends. She is this whole other person around them. She even talks differently and has this great sense of humor. I am getting to know my daughter in a different way. I remember being a kid and it seeming like my Mom really did not like to have additional kids in our home, mostly, I think, because we made a mess. My Mom was a single mom after 15 yrs of marriage and I think she probably just felt overwhelmed. She did her very best. Nonetheless, I often wished to have friendly company more often. My hope is that our home can become the "Hub" for Ruby and her friends. I love to watch their interactions and to see Ruby work out situations and learn lessons in ways that I often feel I might miss teaching her because I work. I am learning that her friends teach her too! Something that should seem so obvious, gets easily blurred for me as I often look through the eyes of "working mother"guilt. (That's certainly not to say that stay-at-home mom's don't work. I am strictly referring to outside of the home work.) I am thankful for this insight. I am thankful for my life such as it is! And I am thankful for MY friends!