Cousins and Conversation

Can I tell you how much good it does my heart to see my girls passing their days with their dear Memphis cousins?

Much, much good.

Here we have petite princesses:

And fort friends:

Living near our Memphis Hales has made this transition so very smooth. They feed us dinner, babysit our kids, loan tools to us, and they don't tell our new friends how often we have dirty dishes in our sink. 

Also, Emme now thinks she has two mothers:

(Emme watching the Olympics with her new bestie, Aunt Katie.)

I think all my children are extra grateful to have two such nice, fun, happy grownups around as Katie and Joes.

And I'm so glad Olivia has her sweet Lucy cousin around to cheer her up, because she's really struggled lately and I haven't known why. Last night I took her to bed with me after another meltdown (and since Caleb is spending nights at hotel med, there's a vacancy.) After I asked her why she's feeling so sad she said with teary eyes, "But who's at our Pittsburgh house?" 

And then I got it. And felt so bad that I've been too wrapped up to see her feelings of confusion and loss.

So we talked a while about our Pittsburgh friends and favorite places.

Some of Olivia's thoughts:

"But I really want to go to Kinlee's."

"But Kelli's house IS Pittsburgh." (true)

"But where's Abby? And who's Abby's dad? . . .Oh, Dave. And who's Anna's baby's name?"

And that set me to blubbering, because it took her a minute to remember little Liam, one of many names that I just don't want my kids to forget.

After I wiped my tears off on my pillow case in the dark I said, "We love Pittsburgh, huh."

And she asked, "But can we do that again?"

I told her I sure hope so.

Shortly thereafter she fell peacefully to sleep and today was a better day for both of us. What a lot of good a good talk with a 3-year-old can do. Ditto that on a little awareness that someone else might also be having a hard time. It helps to have someone to commiserate with.

I should tell you that we really are happy here in Memphis, in case it seems a little one-sided to the contrary here lately. I just feel motivated to write about our little heartachey moments, both because I want to be honest about my feelings, and because it seems like when I write them down, I can let them go.

Thanks for understanding.

My quest for the day will be rounding up some pictures of our favorite Pittsburgh peeps to pin up for the kids to see. A happy task indeed.