Life Lessons: Best Friends in the Moment

Have you ever met someone that you connected with instantly and were best friends in that moment? For that one hour at the park, that one week at camp, that one semester in English class? I forgot how intense that could be until my daughter had her first one time friend.

Sometimes I feel bad that Rissa doesn’t have many friends. She calls family, our adult friends, her toys and even strangers “friends.”

Where’s that friend going, mommy?

Friends waved at me!

She is very social and will recount random conversations and memories with people she meets. Other than strangers, we see many “friends” again. There have been kids she gravitated towards at story time and kids she’s played well with at the park. At times I wonder if I should try to hook up a playdate, but always chicken out.

None of these random encounters made my heart ache like it did last weekend.

The reception

We attended a friend’s son’s wedding reception last Saturday. Rissa was super excited to wear her “pretty princess dress” and dance. She also liked it that mommy was even wearing a dress!

The reception hall was empty when we arrived. We were early for once despite having both of the kids with us. This gave Rissa plenty of time to adjust and feel comfortable. It didn’t take long before she was running around and chattering with other people and kids. I began to worry that others would think we weren’t bothering to watch her.

Rissa was extremely happy when she discovered a girl several years older than her coloring. After a few moments another adult ripped out a blank page and handed some crayons over. Rissa just beamed with happiness.

The flower girl

It wasn’t until after dinner that Rissa encountered the flower girl.

Sophie.

She was also an incredibly adorable two year old. I didn’t get to witness the initial meeting, but the retelling of it sounded romantic…. as far as two year old meetings go.

They were walking down an aisle between tables coming towards one another. As the distance closed, they stopped briefly to look at each other.

Then they hugged.

Oh, yes, and they even tried to kiss one another. Heart melt!

For the rest of the night they danced, giggled, and hugged some more. They were nearly inseparable  with Rissa mostly seeking out her new friend in between checking in with us.

Best friends… for the night

We let her be. With an amused smile we looked on as all the kids danced and played. Everything was fine until we needed to leave…

My sweet baby cried. She didn’t want to leave Sophie. Saying good-bye helped, but how do we explain that she lives states away and we won’t see her again?

At that moment, I realized that I remember how that felt. How sometimes meeting and leaving someone we felt truly connected to made my heart hurt.

I wonder about those fleeting friendships from time to time. What happened to them? What are they up to now? Do they remember the time we spent together?

Rissa mentions Sophie daily since they met. She asks to be a flower girl like her friend. She wants to dance in her pretty dress. And most of all, she wants to watch the video we captured of that special night.

Although she asks about her, I think my heart aches more for her than her own does. Both Brian and I felt a bit sad that their time together was so brief, but it’s better to have loved and lost rather than not at all, (as the saying goes) right?

Share a time you connected with someone that you’d never see again in the comments below.