I’ve been at a place in my writing for quite some time now that I can’t say a whole lot about my kids for all kinds of different reasons.
Take today for example…Bones has gone to spend the ENTIRE DAY at a boy’s cottage!
Yup…so much I want to tell you but for the sake of her privacy and the fact that it’s not my story to tell…I can’t divulge what she was saying or how she was feeling or what she was wearing or any of the many things I could go on and on about!
Instead…I’ll tell you about ME…how I was feeling about all of this going down as, after all, it is my blog.
For starters, this boy…let’s call him Creek…he’s a volleyball player so he and Bone’s met at Volleyball Camp (damn you Volleyball Nova Scotia!!!) Also…accidentally, sort of on purpose…I met his mother during the Eastern Elites volleyball tournament as I happened to ask a friend of mine to point out Creek on the court and after she did…she pointed to the woman sitting next to her and said, “By the way, this is Creek’s Mother!”
And that’s when we had a little chuckle and I met her and her husband and we talked about kids and she talked about how they live almost an hour and a half away and together, we “high-fived” with that “yay you don’t live close so our kids can only have an awesome friendship” understanding that Mom’s of kids who sort of like one another have.
What she DIDN’T tell me is that they spend a great deal of time at their cottage that’s a little bit closer…in fact, in the same place we go riding three days a week.
Uh oh!
That’s how I ended up, three weeks after the volleyball tournament, driving Bones to spend the day at a cottage of some boy I only know from the few text messages she’s happened to share with me…and his mother who, I only so much as high-fived at a volleyball tournament!
(Darn texting and snap chatting and all the social media stuff that keeps our kids connected these days!)
Anyway, when I thought about the invitation and her age…and my age…and the proximity to riding…and how fun it would be to spend a day at a lake with a boy you kind of sort of have a whole lot in common with and think is cool…and all of the fun of heading into high school and boys and dating…and our pretty good communication and all of those things that make being the Mom of Bones equally easy and awesome…I got in the car this morning and drove her to meet his family for a fabulous Summer adventure!
But I couldn’t stop thinking how it didn’t seem all that long ago that she was pretty happy to spend the day at the lake catching frogs and sliding them down her pink Polly Pocket slide!
Yeah…that’s my baby I just let grow up a little.
Sigh.
And I remember. All about it. The fun and excitement and thrill of spending time with a friend on a lake in the summer. And while it scares me a little (alright…I felt super nervous when we got to the highway exit)…I’m also really super excited for her.
This morning before I left, I got a text from my Dad who’s vacationing in Newfoundland that said, “On our way to lunch with friends.” And I responded “Just about to drive Bones to spend the day at a lake with a boy so I’d happily trade places.”
And you know what he responded with…
“Trade places with us or with Bones?”
Then he proceeded to send me a few LOL’s and I can only imagine how proud he was of his witty comment and yes…
While part of me would rather bury my head in a big bowl of dessert at a lunch with friends rather than drive my youngest half an hour away to spend time with a friend of the male persuasion…the other part of me thinks that yup…I’d kind of like to be sitting on a dock with a boy right about now too.
Life is moving fast. Super holy smokes crazy fast.
But…sometimes, you just gotta trust that you did a good job…you have to loosen the reins a little and hope that everything you’ve said, everything you’ve lectured about, each and every time you tried to give advice…maybe one or two of the things you said sunk in.
This morning, I spent a little time chatting with Creek’s mother before I headed back to town and not only was she lovely, but she said all of the right things to make me feel comfortable about driving away. After all…she’s letting go a little today also…by inviting a girl to their cottage for the very first time.
And yet…I can’t help but think how much easier it was, when Bones was content to hang out at the lake all day…catching frogs.