Friends, old and new

Almost four weeks ago, just a week after we moved and were at the Rethinking Education conference, a friend walked up to me and said "Ryan has to meet this boy that was in the raw food session this morning. I just know they would hit it off." About ten minutes later another friend walked up and said "There was this boy in the raw food session this morning who Ryan has to meet." Ryan was loitering around the table filled with electronic things for disassembling, and the other boy, Sage, was loitering around a nearby table building something. One of my friends brought them together and introduced them. Sage said "see this robot I'm building," and Ryan's eyes lit up. They wandered off, disassembling electronics and assembling robots for the next hour or so. Soon, a woman walked up to me and asked if I was Ryan's mother. I told her I was, and she introduced herself as Sage's mother. She said she was really happy to meet Ryan and that he reminded her so much of Sage. We discovered we live just a couple of miles from each other. She asked if we had joined the local "natural learners" group and started going to park days, and I told her I hadn't but was planning to do so that week.

That evening, Mira re-connected with a girl she had met three years ago but had been too shy to befriend. The two of them were inseperable for the remainder of the conference, and the girl's mother was thrilled. Til then, her daughter had not been willing to leave the mother's leg. The little girl, Mia, is in the same homeschoolers' group and also lives in our town.

Since then, we've been going to the park day every week. Both kids have enjoyed it immensely, but I'm most happy for Ryan. Ryan makes friends wherever he goes, but he has not really found a friend he clicked with til now. He's not what I would call a typical boy and is not usually interested in the doing the things other boys are doing at the park. Most of his friends are girls, simply because that's who populates most of the homeschooling groups we've participated in. He's comfortable hanging out with the girls, but he usually gets bored quickly with all the pretend games and wanders off to do his own thing (or comes to me to complain about boredom).

Ryan and Sage, though, are like two peas in a pod. There are lots of boys in this new group. Most of them bring their own home-made swords or sit at the park with rolls of duct tape making new weapons to spar with. Ryan and Sage wander around collecting sticks to make things with, climbing trees, exploring creeks, and talking, talking, talking. Yesterday there was a woman at the park we hadn't met yet, and she looked across the playground at Sage and Ryan and said "Hey, there are two Sages today. Who's that other Sage?" They exchanged phone numbers when we left the park, and that's a first for Ryan too. He usually doesn't want to be bothered talking to anyone on the phone.

While Ryan and Sage wander and talk, Mira and Mia run, climb, slide, talk, and play, and I get to enjoy the company of 10 or so really cool parents. And to top it all off, this all takes place about five minutes away from home!