July 16

We had a play date at the park this afternoon with some friends. Abby didn't really want to go, since the attendees were to include her brothers plus six other boys, but she sucked it up and went along anyway. And her willingness to go with the flow was richly rewarded.

When we arrived, I saw a trio of girls standing by a water fountain in the distance. Moments later, one of them cried out "Abby!" and she looked at me, silently asking if she could go see them. I waved her over to them, and went about the business of monitoring the Little Boys. A minute later, I looked over toward the fountain and saw Abby running down the sidewalk toward the school with her arms outstretched. Another girl was running toward her. They met and hugged. And it took me about two seconds to figure out that it was Isabelle, one of her very best friends.

I know she's missed her friends this summer, so it was an unexpected blessing for Abby to see Belle today. They only had about 15 minutes to chat before the day care called her back to the school, but I know Abby was thankful. And the experience gave both of us a nice reminder: sometimes you're rewarded in unexpected ways for doing things that you don't necessarily want to do.