Thomas' First Friend
It is a quote that I find hard to relate to, and honestly I just scrolled on past the entire cutesy back-grounded quote and moved on.
Until....
We were on our way to Lynchburg to see Grandma and Grandpa for a few days. A promise I had made to the kids that we would go back again before school started. Before we left for their house, we had to stop off at the post office.
I made the mistake of telling the kids that we had to mail Jolee her birthday present.
I didn't think much about it at the time. I wanted Jolee to get her gifts from us in time and it takes several days for mail to get from VA to TN.
Thomas kept saying as we rode to the Post Office here in Mechanicsville "Jo-wee birfday." I told him she was turning 2 years old. And, I told him she was having a Sesame Street party. I came up with something new each time he repeated "Jo-wee birfday." It isn't that far to the Post Office, but with a repeating toddler it can seem like days.
We mailed Jolee's package and Thomas was sure to tell the mail person it was for "Jo-wee's birfday." And we climbed in the car.
I told Gracie NOT to tell Thomas where we were going.
He knew we were going on a long trip because we had his DVD player hooked up, but I knew if he knew we would be seeing Grandpa it would be a very long 2.5 hours.
I may have saved myself from hours of excitement over Grandpa, but now I was hearing nothing but Jolee. Poor Thomas thought we were going to Jolee's birthday party. I was heart broken for him. And, he would have been too if he would have accepted my constant reassurance that we were not headed to Jolee's and that the mailman would deliver her gift.
It was no good. He had a one track mind and all he could think about was cake, birthdays, presents and Jolee.
I guess the kind of funny thing is that you wouldn't think they even liked each other the way they interacted when they met for the first time in July. They were typical kids and didn't want to play together much or share.
But, the impact was nothing short of magical. Candice tells me all the time how she talks about Thomas and Gracie, and my two constantly talk about her.
While I hated that these kids were so far apart in miles, I realized that Jolee was Thomas' first friend. She was the first child he had ever played with, knew by name, and missed that wasn't his sister.
So, I guess the cheesy saying is true--at least for Jolee and Thomas. Your cousin is your first friend.
And, I can't think of a better friend for him to have, after all her mommy is my best friend too!
0 Response to "Thomas' First Friend"
Post a Comment