Friendship

In this year of change for my family, so many of my friends have been incredibly supportive.  I've had friends anonymously share with us. (Thank you Matthew and my wonderful *still secret* twelve days of Christmas crew) Friends give things to us that they thought we could use (Thanks Julia and Laura & Nick).  And countless friends who have been so supportive of what Tad is doing, asking about it and expressing happiness and excitement for him.
And this year of living simpler is winding down...only two and a half months to go, really. I remember when Tad and I first made the decision and how terrified I was.  But it hasn't been half-bad. And with the help of the great state of Wisconsin, wonderful friends and family and neighbors and coworkers who have been helpful, or generous, or just plain kind.  And through our own planning, scrimping, learning new ways of doing things... we've been just fine! 
I think now that we're used to the way we've been doing things, once we go up to two incomes and down a daycare payment, we'll be able to keep on going and actually put money away for the first time ever!

Last night I went out for margaritas (non alcoholic margaritas for me--which I guess amounts to a slushie) with my neighborhood friends.  We laughed and talked and commiserated on parenthood.  We did imitations of our own kids' meltdowns and rule infractions (which was hysterical).  It was a wonderful time...

So anyway, I intend a more comprehensive thank you blog post to happen in the end of May, but I've been thinking a lot of friends lately. Because I appreciate my own so much, and because of this:

Coen is seven, and now more than ever I'm seeing how friendship plays out in his life.  So a couple heartwarming things:
One: He has a friend at school.  He told me that he likes this boy so much that it makes his tummy hurt. 
Two: Another friend at school who doesn't have a sibling living at home with him told Coen that sometimes that makes him sad, but that Coen is his brother.  Coen told me, "Then we told each other that we love each other. But we're not going to tell anyone else at school because word would spread all over the school! That's private to us."  I heard from a parent that this same boy had hurt himself at recess and had to go inside for an ice pack and my Coen went in and sat with him for the whole recess.  Wow, my very own son...a real friend!  That makes a momma proud.

So I want to say thanks to my friends all over the US and in Estonia, the Netherlands, France, Chile and Germany too...just for being friends! Here's a photo of each member of my family...with some friends!