Have you ever met someone and just knew the minute it happened you were bound to be friends? You just knew that God crossed your paths for a reason? Well not long ago I prayed for God to bring Cody a good friend at his school. We love Brady and while he will always be Cody's first friend, I was feeling like Cody doesn't hang out with enough boys his age. We only get to see Brady when Lisa and I are able to coordinate in advance. And with my spontaneous gene that doesn't happen often enough. Thus the prayer request. Not an urgent one - not one I sent up every day - but a request non-the-less. One I knew God would answer in His own way.
And answer He did -- on a Friday afternoon when a weird phone number came up on my cell. I don't usually answer calls I don't recognize but for some reason I answered this one. On the other end was Alex - an animated little boy with lots of energy asking for Cody. Cody was with his Dad so I told Alex we would call him back when Cody was with me again. Long story long - that lead to a park play date for today. I didn't know what to anticipate. The questions were racing through my head as we waited for them to arrive ... would the mom be easy to talk to? Did she have a husband? Would he come too? Would the hour go by painfully slow? Should I plan a bunch of questions ahead of time to keep the conversation moving? Would this play date end up like the last one which was nothing short of a train wreck?
Alex jumped out of the car maybe even before it was fully parked. "Hey," he said, "you look like my mom!" "Hey," I said, "you look like my son!". And sure enough when Elizabeth stepped out of the car I could see why Alex would say that. Same height, same hair color, same length ... it was an honor to hear I looked like her. Next came Braxton, the younger brother who was cute enough to nibble on. And then there was Shane, the family friend along for the ride who took abuse from the boys with the patience of Job. Within minutes we were easily talking about our "single mom stories" ... all while she taught both Cody and I how to throw a football. A single mom that throws footballs, can multi-task, is independent and her kids' biggest fan. Cody and I were sold.
To help make the play date linger just a little more, I suggested that we all go get a snowball at the infamous stand on Liberty Road. Elizabeth didn't bring her wallet in her hurry to get out of the house so I told her it would be my treat. The fact that she offered me a Starbucks gift card as a way to say thank you gave me the next clue that she was good peeps. 'Only a Libra would do that,' I thought. And sure enough, Facebook confirmed it. My girl was a fellow October baby.
The snowball stand didn't take credit cards so luckily, I had a $20 bill in my purse left over from the O's game. We all ordered and of course I wasn't paying attention to what it would all come to for 6 people. The total was $21.50. Braxton, the soon to-be six year old had a dollar he kept showing me. When I asked that little man if we could borrow his dollar he handed it over without too much cajoling. My kind of man. Willing to give up his only dollar to help a damsel in distress! But we were able to scrounge up enough change to help Braxton keep his dollar bill.
I was having way too much fun and the day was too beautiful so I suggested we take a drive up to Liberty Dam. I hadn't been there since Cody was a baby and it sounded like fun to share this hidden spot of nature with 4 cool people. Well the park sealed the deal. Between rock climbing and photo snapping, a friendship and been born. I drove home feeling grateful for Alex, the precocious 8 year old, who planted the seed. I look foward to watching it grow and burgeon into something beautiful.
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