Both seven years old, they meet on hands and knees on the carpet between the couch and the bookshelf. Their parents, near-strangers, stand awkwardly above them exchanging stilted greetings. Between the legs of the grown-ups two small faces alternately regard one another and a Lego vehicle in a pair of small hands.
On one of these glances up into the face of his guest the owner of the Legos (and a generous number of adorable freckles) says, "Do you know how to spell 'Sebastian?"
Joshua cheerfully answers, "No." With an inviting lilt at the end of the word.
Sebastian says, "S-e-b-a-s-t-i-a-n. It's nine letters."
"My name is almost nine letters. It's Joshua." Says Joshua. "J-o-s-h-u-a."
A moment later they have vanished down the hallway and into a bedroom and jolly sounds leak down the hall for the next few hours. I peeked a few times. The first time Joshua and Sebastian had just abandoned the Legos and were intent on building a bridge with wooden blocks. Brannon was engrossed in Legos and Aubrey (also 7 [twins:)] ) was flitting around the room like a little golden butterfly.
Now, if only their parents had it so "easy" ;-)
(We, in fact, had a fantastic time as well. Meeting new people is not easy for me any time. Spending several hours [it wasn't supposed to be near that long, if that tells you anything] at someone's house was severely stressful for me. I survived. And am still astonished at eating a dinner that is one of our staples at home [unusual!] and staring at mason jars full of nuts and whole grains and beans. And tiny bottles of flavored stevia, and herbal supplements, and lovely teacups. And eating durian [Eeww, I have to say. But I'd try it again]. And talking about unschooling, and homeschooling, and public school, and adrenal exhaustion [what a thing to have in common, kinda sad really, but interesting and encouraging to talk to someone who's experiencing the same thing] and so on and so on... It feels promising:)
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