My Son's Best Friend Lives 400 miles Away

Shortly after I found out I was pregnant with my son, one of my cousins in another state called to tell me that she too was pregnant.  Our due dates were within just two weeks of each other, so we enjoyed comparing our pregnancies via emails and phone calls, and after I delivered my son a little early, I was eager to call and share my birth story. After she delivered her daughter, we of course talked again, and I was ready to head out and visit as soon as she was willing to have visitors, so our new little family packed seemingly half the house and set out on our first road trip as a family when my baby boy was just six weeks old.  The 400+ mile drive was a bit tough, but worth the bonding.  My cousin and I spent the weekend comparing breastfeeding woes,  shamelessly enjoying the hot tub and lamenting the loss of any pre-baby body confidence we'd previously had.  We set our babies down on blankets side-by-side. Despite being four weeks apart, they were practically the same size, and we thought that was just hysterical. At that point, they didn't really seem terribly aware of each other... but that didn't last long.

By the time we met up again when the babies were six months old, they were able to play with each other. I know they say babies at that age only parallel play, and that they don't really play with each other, and that was true for my kiddo with every other baby, but not his cousin. He seemed to really play with his cousin.

Over the years, the two have grown very close. It has never mattered to my cousin's daughter that her male playmate enjoys playing with her dolls as much as she did. Or that he enjoys putting on her princess clothes. These things have always just been okay. The two of them seem gender blind in their fun. It's like how childhood should be.

As the years have gone on, my cousin's daughter has gained many close friends, all girls, with whom she is very close. My son is involved in a ton of stuff, and enjoys the company of many children, but he only has a handful of friends, and he isn't very close with them.

It's hard for him at home. He figured out very early on (like.... in kindergarten), that the boys were supposed to hang out with the boys and the girls were supposed to hang out with the girls. I'd love to say that he's this renegade who rejects this societal pressure, but he isn't. He pretty much just likes to go with the flow and not make waves, so he just tries to find the boys he gets along with the best in any given situation. He'd probably be happier and have closer friends if he just tried to hang out with the girls, but he doesn't.

But his cousin is a permanent friend. She's a built in friend. And the two adore each other. When they were younger, they'd cry for like an hour when we'd separate them to drive home.  I'm pretty sure that she really is his best friend.

This summer, the one little girl who lives in our neighborhood moved away. My son really enjoyed playing with her, so this was kind of a devastating blow.  So, when it worked out this past week that I had the opportunity to take my kids along on a family member's trip out of state, my son got to see his cousin for a couple of days, and just a few days later, we had a big family reunion scheduled here in our state, so they actually came here to stay with us this weekend.

It's been a great week of reconnecting for the two of them, and they are two peas in a pod, as usual.