Peace

We had a really nice day today playing out in the court with the neighbors. That may not sound huge but trust me, it is. We've been in neighbor kid hell for the past several weeks and it was so nice to be out there with great, positive play happening for several hours straight. I had to sit out there and watch them like a hawk but it was worth it. Growing up, I remember having a love/hate relationship with the neighbor girl who was near my age. One minute, we'd be the best of friends and the next, the worst of enemies. The difference was that we were allowed to work things out for ourselves. There weren't any silly and useless decrees that I could no longer play with her or I couldn't go in her yard which were announced weeks after a supposed "crime" and that was the same on both sides and you know what? We always worked it out. That's definitely not the case with our neighbors and it's unfortunate but there are good life lessons in all of this as well - for the kids and the parents. The kids are learning valuable lessons about the kinds of things they want in their friends. They don't like it when kids lie. They don't like it when kids call them names or gang up on them or make ridiculous accusations about their family. They're also learning to recognize their part in every situation and know that nothing is one-sided. And Tim and I are learning that we all parent in different ways but at the core, we all have the well-being of our children at heart. It may not always look like it but we do. It's unfortunate that we all can't come together and come to a mutually agreeable solution but it's not something that I foresee happening here...ever. And that's a lesson in itself. We're not going to be friends with everyone but we still need to do the right thing even when it's really hard.

School starts next week and selfishly and admittedly cynically, I love the first day of school. I love watching the neighbor kids get on the bus and knowing that for the next 9 months, we'll have peace and then we can try again next summer. Who knows, maybe just maybe another year will help. We can always hope.