Farewell

About 2 or 3 months after we moved here, when the weather started to be tolerable enough for outside play, Cate met and became friends with some of the neighborhood kids. Our neighbors two houses down have 4 children, ages 7,6(both girls), 4(boy) and a 2 year old(another girl). During the summer months the kids enjoyed spending their evenings and often time their afternoons playing on our tire swing and leaping off the picnic table, playing hide in seek in the camillia bushes, digging up buried treasure under the pole shed, and of course...freeze tag. As the fall faded into summer, we saw them all less and less. It's been bitterly cold for weeks and even when it wasn't raining or snowing, the wind was enough to cut you in two. So they just haven't been playing that much together since October or so. Now, the oldest child is in 2nd grade in Cate's multiage class at school. About a week ago, Cate came home to tell us that Hayden had told her they were moving :-( Cate was pretty sad. In the Spring of 2009, we uprooted her and moved her across town away from her cousins and first best friend. Living in town, she was very lonely and would constantly talk about wishing that she had a neighbor to play with again in whatever house we decided to buy. When we found out that we had neighbors her age here, she was thrilled! Simon too found a good friend in the little boy, Ridge. I remember one evening when those boys sat down there in the garden and dug in dirt for over an hour. 

Growing up is bittersweet sometimes. Friends come and go, you move away, you change schools. All in all, Cate has been surprisingly tough and very grown up about all the changes that she has went through in less than 2 years. Today, she told her friends goodbye and had one last play date with them. It's going to be a lonely summer unless we can get another kid about their age in that house! LoL

Good luck in Florida Y'all!

(Yes, I am well aware of the fact that Simon's pants are on backward. He put them on himself and I wasn't about to say one word other than "Good job precious!")