Thursday, March 09, 2006

Olivia (and my) broken heart

Several weeks ago my family attended a potluck for our dear friends who are moving to Fresno. Their son, Caleb, is exactly Olivia's age. In fact, his mom and I met and became friends when we were both pregnant with our first child, and our due dates were one day apart. I ended up going into labor 10 days early, while she had to be induced after going past her due date. So it ended up Olivia is nearly two weeks older than Caleb. Needless to say, they've been friends since birth.

We had a nice time at the potluck and were getting ready to leave. I thought it would be nice if Olivia wished her friend well before we left. I asked her if she wanted to tell Caleb goodbye and that she'll miss him and thank him for being her friend. She walked right up to him, burst into tears, and repeated exactly what I said.

I was feeling horrible at this point for prompting her to say this and I and his mom asked her what was wrong. Through the tears and crying (and with no prompting from me this time) she said to him, "I just love you so much," and threw her arms around his neck. I had no idea she had such intense and sincere emotion towards her friend. But I shouldn't have been surprised since it was exactly what I was feeling about my dear friend moving away from me as well.

And here is the kicker. Our other close friends are moving to Idaho and their going away potluck is on saturday. I have no idea how I am going to break it to Olivia after last time, and how either of us is going to bear it.

6 Comments:

  • At 7:50 AM, Blogger Highlandgal said…

    How sweet. Don't feel too badly about pushing her to say goodbye like that. They were feelings she had anyway and she was able to convey them to the person who should have known them. How often does that really happen?

     
  • At 10:29 AM, Blogger Sraikh said…

    Thats really bad that two close friends are moving away. But you know what, the kids tend to get over really fast, 2 weeks later she might not care so much that her friends are not in town. And as for you, I recommend tons of cookie dough and 2 hours shopping at the thrift stores :)

     
  • At 10:47 AM, Blogger Erin said…

    That is intense!

    I'm sorry that your close friends are moving, but moving doesn't make you any less of friends! I agree with sraikh... cookie dough!

     
  • At 5:03 PM, Blogger Leslie said…

    That is so sweet. You should be so proud of her for having such strong loving feelings towards other people and it's good for her to express them. Though I can feel your pain about going through it again. That's going to be tough to explain to a sweet little 4 year old.

     
  • At 7:15 PM, Blogger 4texans said…

    Awww, I'm sorry your friends are moving. I had a good friend move away in December and her dd and Olivia were best friends. Your Olivia was so sweet, but I know she will meet more friends.

     
  • At 8:25 PM, Blogger allison said…

    That stinks :(

     

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