Friends

I took Zoë to the mall this morning for a quick shopping trip. While we were in Gymboree, one of my favorite kids' clothing stores, we ran into one of Zoë's daycare classmates, Sabrina. We were browsing in the store when all of a sudden I heard a little girl saying, "Hi Zoë." At first I didn't look up but when Sabrina came over to us, I realized she was talking to my daughter. I don't think I had ever met Sabrina before and certainly not her mother. This has happened to me a number of times now and each time I am struck by the fact that Zoë already has a part of her life that does not include me. I don't mean to imply that I feel badly about that, but rather, I am amazed by this. It is hard to imagine her out in the world on her own and yet I know she will get more and more so as the years go by.

Speaking of friends, I was thinking about our neighbors who are our friends last night. Their daughter and Zoë are already friends. They will start kindergarten the same year, wait at the same bus stop every day and basically go through all the steps of growing up together. If neither of us move away, it is highly likely that these two little girls will be friends for at least the next 15 years if not a lot longer. That is so funny to think about. Especially when you consider how much they will change. I will enjoy looking back on those Sesame Place pictures with them someday.

Tomorrow me and the family are headed up to Ithaca, NY to visit my alma mater -- mostly some friends from there and not really the school itself. As if in honor of that event, it has rained incessantly today. It has been one of those days where you think it can't keep raining like this and yet it does.