It's the little things, you know

Well, 34 weeks into our Tuesdays at the park and it happened. Did I tell you that it's not just me that goes every Tuesday morning? Three of us go every Tuesday together. It's not just about our time at the park; it's the camaraderie of getting everything together those mornings before we go. Packing our SUV, singing, laughing, talking about our friends we're about to see. When I say it's good times, it's some of the very best. We're partners. Our setup at the parks is....ummmm....organic and free-flowing. Ha, we bring a table and chairs (our breakfast table) and load it with whatever we can think of that kids might like. Here's our set-up from this morning:



Notice the timely football napkins from Sunday's big game (we use what we have around our homes-ha). In the larger basket is egg & cheese sandwiches and mini muffins. We usually have some snack foods for them to pack in their backpacks, too. Schools have a designated snack time now, so kids need to bring snacks in addition to a lunch, unless they're buying a hot lunch or enrolled in a lunch program. And the carafe holds hot chocolate, in addition to having juice and water, too. I swear I won't always give you this much background. It's just to give you an idea of what's happening. ;)

The majority of the neighborhood is Spanish-speaking. My Spanish is growing by leaps & bounds since the summer, but it's still....how do you say....bad. The kids teach me words every week. Today's words were 'muchacho' and 'muchacha' Our friends always laugh a lot as I stumble my way through pronunciations. I sometimes go by the adage of what I don't know in actuality, I can make up for in volume. Amusement abounds.

Anyway, 34 weeks in and it happened. One of the little girls....one of the sweet, ridiculously cute little girls hugged one of our friends good-bye. This is HUGE! She has been coming and eating breakfast with us since September. She always comes with her older brother and older sister and mom or dad. They seemed to regard us suspiciously for the first few months, I'm sure thinking any Tuesday now they're just not going to show up, but we've persevered and they've grown accustomed to our faces and our personalities and, dare I say, our friendships.

We look forward to seeing them, great them warmly, talk about their weeks, share things about ours....the things you do when you have breakfast with friends. And then, as the bus was coming up the road, the kindergartner opened her arms wide, almost as if she didn't even realize she was doing it, and dove into my friend, my partner, for a hug. A hug. 34 weeks later and she gave her a hug and it made everything fall into place and make it alllllllll worth it.

Ahhhh, it's the little things, you know. :)