Found Friends

A few weeks ago, we went out to the beach for the afternoon. The boys needed to run around in that way only the beach seems to inspire. Nathan needed to catch a good surf day. I needed the ocean breeze and somewhere that I wasn’t saying “no, stop” every thirty seconds.

I kid you not, within two minutes Beckett had made a friend. 

They were taking turns tossing his Surfer Dude toy into the waves and watching it glide back to shore like an ocean-style boomerang. 

Here’s the funny thing about that… He just went up and talked to this little girl. Just offered her a turn with his toy. Like the world meant for them to be friends for half-an-hour. And I will tell you that he does this everywhere we go. 

I love that about him, the fearlessness, the kindness, the curiosity he has about other people. It’s in his nature to bring people into his life, like they already belong there no matter who they are. And quite frankly, that gift is a marvel to his introverted mom. 

Last night, we read Tom Percival’s Meesha Makes Friends. It’s a picture book about a little girl with an eccentric gift of making unusual and inventive creations. However, she has a lot of discomfort when it comes to making friends. To appease her loneliness, Meesha creates her own friends out of found objects. The beautiful illustrations depict Meesha and her creations in beautiful colors, but the rest of her life is in black and white and gray. Parents, classmates, school, home...

At one point, Meesha’s parents took her to a birthday party, where she uncomfortably hid in a corner to create her own friends. Along came a little boy that wanted to join her in her crafting. Meesha bravely let the little boy into her world of found-object friends. Before they knew it, they were surrounded by other children at the party that wanted to join in… And they were all in color.

Percival’s book reminded me that Beckett’s gift of making friends is not to be taken lightly. I hope he remembers that people do belong in his life and he belongs in theirs. Because I can’t help but wonder how much more colorful our world would be if we assumed everyone we met belonged in our lives.

#tompercival

#meeshamakesfriends

Treasure Hunting

 Last week, Beckett’s friend from down the street asked him to come over to play. Before that, the two have always just played in our yard. 

The moment his friend asked him, the feet of my once-cautious child had already started down the driveway to this new place, his head barely looking over his shoulder for approval before he was out of sight. Down the hill they went, leaving Nathan and me just staring at each other, dumbfounded at the moment of boldness that just happened.

He returned home hours later with sparkly eyes and a toothy grin, regaling us with their adventures. 

A few days later, we were at an indoor water park for spring break. Nathan and I were taking turns plummeting down the huge water slides with Beckett. A few hours into our visit, he ran into a friend from school. Next thing we knew, he was asking us if he could go down the water slide without us. His feet already moving toward the slide, his head barely looking over his shoulder for approval before he was out of sight. Off they went, leaving Nathan and me just staring at each other, dumbfounded that our once-cautious child kicked us to the curb.

He emerged from the water slide a few minutes later with those same sparkly eyes and that toothy grin.

This was fresh on my mind this week when we read the magical picture book Oona by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by Raissa Figueroa. Oona was a feisty, brave, treasure-hunting mermaid who lived in the ocean with her best friend, Otto the sea otter. Oona discovered a crown lodged in a chasm that piqued her interest. After several failed attempts, Oona moved on to other less exciting, non-treasure hunting ventures. But, DiPucchio said, “she was missing her spark, and a mermaid without her spark is like a seagull without an appetite. Unnatural.” Seeing this, Otto tried to cheer her up with a new shell, which she used to help her successfully get the crown.

Beckett’s acts of boldness reminded me just how important friends are to nudge us to find our spark. Like Oona, we need someone to help us treasure hunt so that we can return with sparkly eyes and toothy grins. Because a person without bold, new adventures is just...unnatural. 

#oona

#kellydipucchio