Pizza with a Friend

As you know, we humans are pack animals. We need other people. We need connection.

Between Gus and Sam, Sam especially needs to be with kids his own age. I often describe him as a Labrador puppy, when meeting new people. At home, he runs in a pack of 3 to 5 kids most days of the week. It’s his natural state of being and nothing makes him happier. When we’ve traveled previously, the first day at a new place (typically a beach resort) is uncomfortable for Sam. He will often say in despair, “There won’t be any kids here for me to play with. I don’t think I’m gonna like this place.” Then usually by day two, he will have found one or two kids that he quickly becomes attached at the hip with and the daily rhythm of the trip becomes, “Mom, I’m going to play soccer with *new friend*” or “I’m going to get smoothies with *new friend*” or “I’m going to play on the beach with *new friend*.” Then, afterwards he say, “That place was awesome. When can we go back?”

We are here for five months. We know that the pattern will repeat…that he will make friends…we just have to be patient.

Our antenna have been up as we do the daily check in after school and listen for the signs. Any new friends? Anyone live close to us? Anyone to hang out with after school or on the weekend…that being the Holy Grail of new friendship.

A couple weeks ago, Sam said, “I really like Liam. He’s nice. And he kind of lives by us.” My Spidey sense tingled, I took note, but tried to play it cool. “Oh yeah? That’s nice.” Last week, when I asked Sam who he was playing Fortnite with, he said, “Liam.” I said, “Liam from here?” And, he said, “Yep.”

Then, the other night, Sam and Liam were again playing Fortnite. I had told Sam it was time to get off, so we could go out to dinner. They were having such a good time and were having trouble finishing their game (this actually is pretty typical). So I said, “Hey, Sam. Do you want to ask Liam if he wants to join us for pizza?” I felt my body tense with hope as I waited for the answer. There was some back-and-forth, then suddenly the answer was yes and we had a plan to pick Liam up on our way into town. Our golf cart buzzed with excitement as we bounced down the road into town.

A few minutes later, Sam said, “There he is!” As soon as we pulled over, Liam jumped onto the back of the golf cart with Sam and Gus, and his parents walked over. We exchanged introductions (they are from Canada; he makes guitars and she is “retired” despite being our age) and mutual delight over the boys new friendship. I thanked them for sharing Liam with us for the evening. They thanked us for extending the invite. We parted with promises to get together soon.

Pizza and a good time followed. We discovered that Liam was great kid. He and Sam had an easy camaraderie and seem to be working on developing a nice friendship.

Fingers crossed.