Alessandro
I took photographs of Emma at her boy, Alessandro’s party, but I missed the one I really wanted. She and Alessandro are both dressed for a pool party; an Indiana Jones pool party. She’s wearing a rose-printed one-piece bathing-suit, and he’s got on his Indiana Jones jacket and hat worn above a black and white Speedo. They are kissing good-bye., an almost real good-bye.
I met Sando’s father in the parking-lot the next morning. Both of us were hoping the other had taken a photograph because neither of us had.
Alessandro and Emma hadn’t been in the same class for almost a year, but they never stopped being the best of friends. They didn’t have to see each other to stay tight. Alessandro and Emma just got each other, whatever that means for four-year-old kids. He was a big part of that life of her’s I never saw, her playground life.
Many of Emma’s buddies are starting Kindergarten today, and we all thought he’d be one of them. She’s in Pre-K., and she was already planning ways she’d get to hang out with her friends in that class. On the playground, during shared activities, while visiting the shared bathroom, Emma was already making plans to hang out with these buddies. She figured she’d be right next door to Bella, Sandro, Oliver and Charlotte; a great year lay ahead.
Just before not taking the picture, I’d found out that Sandro wouldn't be returning to Emma’s school; not at all. While I dug around in my bag for my photographing phone, I wondered what I’d tell Emma.
The bathing-beauty moment was the big good-bye. In the last few days, they hugged in the hallway and waited for each other in the parking lot so they could walk into the building together. She knows he’s not going to be around, and I wonder when she’s going to miss him.
Isaiah
In my head, I’ve pieced together a movie of Liam and his best friend Isaiah during the last week of their Summer vacation. Two boys diving into the waves on one of our two beach days, that’s an image i’ve collected. Bobbing through the waves on boogie boards , I’ll keep that. The way they were together, alone in the big sea, I didn’t worry when I couldn’t see them.
This Summer, those two boys went to the pool as well as the beach. They attended Magic the Gathering tournaments. They stuffed themselves with peking raviolis and chicken wings from the buffet at Liam’s fave Chinese restaurant. They watched as many James Bond movies as they possibly could, and recommended this to their friends. They slept over at each others’ houses. They had to grab whatever time they could.
Yesterday, Isaiah started at a local charter school, but Liam began a new year at their old school this morning. Isaiah’s Mom and I promise they boys as often as they possibly can; we’re dedicated to it. I don’t know if they miss each other today, but they will.
Those boys are 100% birth -to-earth bestest buds. I’m expecting they will still have movie marathons on weekends. They’ll keep hanging out on Isaiah’s porch talking about stuff, even while the stuff they talk about changes. They’ll be each others’ after-college roommates, I can see it now. They’ll stand up at each others’ weddings. They just can’t partner-up for science projects .
Liam’s not here. He scurried off after school with the coolest remaining boys in the 5th grade. It might be days before he tells me how it feels not to have his best friend in his class and not to see him in the hallway, or we might have a long chat about it tonight.
Liam doesn’t need for me to tell him that doesn’t matter where he and his friend go to school; he knows it. Knows it, but he has to learn to trust it. I stayed with many of the same kids ( the girls anyway ) from Pre-School up through 8th Grade. My kids are learning something I didn’t have to know until I was much older than they are.