It was a nice park day yesterday. Plenty of kids, plenty of moms, zero crocheting, but lots of talk about it. In my dreams I have finished the pretty sweater. In real life I have yet to buy the yarn for it. All in due time… right? My friend B. is a true inspiration to me that way. She just about finished her first ever knitted scarf! Wooohoooo! You rock, girl. 
But what I really want to write about this morning is the teamwork we have witnessed yesterday.
J., B. and I are rather good friends. And therefore our children C. (B’s daughter), M. (J’s daughter) and L. (my son) are rather good friends as well. All three of them are 5 years old, with my son towering over the two girls, which is quite cute in a way. The three were busy swinging. That is, my son was busy sitting, and the girls were busy pushing. Well, little C. (and she’s really quite little and so cute) got upset because she wanted to use the swing. No problemo. L. got off the swing and offered it to her.
Now, we’re not talking those really low hanging swings… we’re talking those kid swings that are open on one side, closed on the other, and they have a little chain to close once you’re on the swing. And that’s where the trouble started. The swing hung too high for C. So L., who is about a foot taller than C. picked her up and tried really hard to sit her on the swing… without success. He tried several times, and he almost got her high enough. Almost! What to do? As all three of them stood around the swing, all of a sudden M. climbs on the swing. And before C. could get too upset about having lost the swing to someone else again, M. said, “But I’m just showing you how to get on.” Ahaaa! She demonstrated again, how C. could climb on the swing, by putting one knee up first and then pulling herself up.
Let’s not forget though that C. is rather little. It took several tries to even get her knee on the swing. But she managed eventually, and with a few pushes from her friends, she soon sat on the swing… on her knees… facing the back of the swing. Again, not a problem for our little team. A little cheering, and holding on to C.’s arm so she wouldn’t fall, while she was turning around in the swing, et voila. She sat and was ready to swing. L. closed the chain, and both L. and M. started pushing the swing.
As for us moms, we applauded and cheered, all of us happy and proud of our wonderful children. And B., behind large shades, discretely wiped away a tear. “I love homeschoolers,” she said. And it was the same tear that was forming in the corner of my eye… the one that I swallowed, due to a lack of shades.
Yes, I love homeschoolers too. But what I like even more is that my son has those two friends. Sweet girls (with an attitude) and a boy (with an attitude) sharing a friendship, that I can only hope will last a very long time. I’ll be happy to see them use their creativity and team spirit in years to come. And now I’ll go take a shower… Tears are invisible there.
Gorgeous.