I've been thinking about friends a lot lately. I've always felt very strongly that family comes first but I also think having friends in your life is quite vital.
We knew that with the boys starting kindergarten this year that we wanted them in separate classes. We felt that they needed that time to be away from each other and develop more as individuals. They're both very smart and we knew that this year would mostly be for them to grow socially and not necessarily academically. They've stayed home this past year and really haven't been around a ton of other kids so we didn't know what to expect. Jack ended up in the same class as about 5 other kids from primary, while Owen didn't know anyone in his class. We thought this wasn't too bad of a setup since Owen has no problems making friends, and Jack is a bit more awkward around other kids. The first couple weeks both the boys would say they hadn't made any friends and they didn't know anyone's name. The last two weeks, however, Owen comes home telling us about a new friend everyday, Jack...not so much. The only person Jack says he wants to play with is his brother Owen, but Owen says he only wants to play with Jack at home and never at school. I guess this has started a few fights between them at recess, they've even had to meet with the principal about it twice. What do you do? This is the first time that I've ever seriously wished they weren't twins. I never imagined that it could be like this, in my head it was either they would always have the same friends, or they would have totally different groups of friends but be fine with it. Jack was just crying the other day because Owen said he couldn't play with him and his friends, they even ended up taking Jack's shoes away from him and hiding them. I just don't get it. They are great at home, they play all the time and seem to genuinely love being together. It makes me so upset that Owen would be like that at school. I feel very helpless in this situation.
All of this has gotten me thinking more about having friends later in life. I am always having times where I really wish I had some close friends here. Even just one! I'm okay with admitting I don't have any friends on here because I'm pretty sure the only people who read this are my sister-in-laws :) Seriously though, just because you get married and have kids doesn't mean you shouldn't have friends anymore. Even couple friends would be wonderful, though that's even harder to come by since there's four of you that all need to like each other! I guess that dream you have with your best friend when your 10 years old about living next door to each other and having your kids grow up together never really goes away.
I hope Jack and Owen can work things out. I hope that they both realize that the bond of a family is greater than that of friendships, and that you protect your family at all cost. I hope they will love each other always, no matter what. I hope that even if they end up with different friends that they'll support one another and always stick up for one another.
Oh yeah, our camera is broke; has been for a couple months. I hate blogging with out pictures, hence the no blogging. Do you have my name for Christmas???
