Lili, Sebastian and Mateas

While Ben was planting the flowers (from the public market!) Saturday, Seth and I were sitting in the grass watching him. Neighbor Sebestian, age 8, came up to Seth and said hi. Sebastian has bushy brown hair, is very tan, he's Mexican, and has bright blue eyes. He's always outside and is the leader of neighborhood kid club.

"Do you want to hold him?"

"Hm no."

But he wanted to make him smile.

Next Lili, age 7, who is almost always wearing a helmet whether or not she's riding her bike, came up to us. Lili is just like Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, minus the southern accent.

"Do you want to see me leap like a frog?"

"Yes."

We started talking about Lili's wand she recently made and learned that Sebestian is going to learn German soon since he's moving to Switzerland. We talked about their fort in the woods. Somehow it came up about whistling grass. They'd never heard of that. I told them we should find some.

So we got on our shoes and the 3 of us plus Seth went tromping through the woods to find whistling grass. Like old friends. And we found some. I made it whistle. Then they tried.

Later than night I was putting some finishing touches on the garden. Next-door neighbor Mateas, age 6, was riding his bike on the sidewalk. Mateas is Brazilian tan with big brown eyes and possibly the cutest face on the planet. I told him he was doing a great job on his bike (he recently learned to ride without training wheels).

"I know."

He showed me his riding gloves so if he falls he won't hurt his hands. He said he should get some for his knees too, because they keep getting big scrapes. He showed me his scrapes.

"Did you know I'm getting too big for my scooter? Have you seen my scooter?"

He got on his scooter and showed me how he's getting big to ride it. Then he started finding scars and told me each story; each a scooter or bike accident.

I showed him the scar on my left hand from my sparkler incident when I was 5. I asked him if he had any scars from his karate class. He had one of his foot from a mat burn. He found it and pointed. I asked him what's he's learning in karate. He showed me a seesaw kick. Kick left, kick right. He had good form.

"Did you know I just got a new belt?" I asked him how he gets a new belt. He told me.

"Do you want to see my belts?"

"Sure."

So he brought out his belts. He explained he would show me his first belt first and the one he had just gotten last. He explained the old ones each had 4 stripes on them and he got them for being good in class. His newest belt had one white and one green stripe. I told him my dad did karate, but he didn't start until he was a lot older, "So you're lucky that you're starting when you're young."

"I know."

We talked for probably 30 minutes. I went into the house happy.

It reminded me of how easy it is to make friends when you're a kid. It's easy to find things to do and things to talk about. You're friends just because you're both there together.

We adults make it hard. At least I do. I get nervous go out and talk to people sometimes. Certainly I get nervous when I know I must call someone on the phone. Especially if I don't know our common ground. But why? Why not be like Lili and just show people my leap frogs? Or Mateas and explain my riding gloves. It's easy. And it's happy. What great examples I have all around me.

Lili figuring out a puzzle at the Strong Museum when I went last week with her and her mom.