Page 90 of Returning to Everton

“Yes! I’m so excited Mommy! I hope Chloe is in my class!”

I smile thinking about her friend Chloe. I texted her mom, Maggie, a few days after we met them at the street market. They haven’t spent as much time together as Logan and Violet, but they’ve had a few playdates. The first was at the park down the street. That’s one of Violet’s favorite places. Then we had Maggie and Chloe over for lunch a few days later. I’m glad Violet already has a friend her age at school, I’ve got a feeling those two are going to be as close as Quinn and I are.

“That would be pretty awesome if she is, but you’ll make more friends too,” I remind her as I start breakfast.

“But Chloe is mybestfriend Mommy!”

“Oh, is she? What about Logan?” I tease her while I crack the eggs open and make the egg mixture for the French toast.

She huffs, “He’s aboyMommy!”

I laugh out loud at that. “Yes, he is, but you see him every day and you love playing with him. Isn’t he your best friend?”

“Well, I guess… but he’s aboyMommy,” she insists again.

“Okay? You can have a boy for a best friend. You can also have more than one best friend. Look at me. I had five best friends growing up, and four of them were boys,” I defend.

“Hmmm… I guess I didn’t think about that,” she admits. “But won’t Chloe be sad that she’s not my only friend?”

“I’m sure she’ll understand, sweetie. You won’t be her only friend either if she makes new friends at school. Are you okay with that?” I ask her gently.

I’m glad she actually takes the time to think about how that would make her feel instead of just saying what she thinks I want to hear. While ideally, she would be happy for her friend if she had other friends, emotions don’t always work like that. Jealousy is a real thing and I want my daughter to be able to talk to me about her feelings, even if they’re not the happy go lucky kind.

“I think it might make me sad, Mommy. Especially if she stopped talking to me as much because she’s too busy with her new friends,” she admits glumly.

“That’s okay though. You’re allowed to feel however you feel. It’s how you act on your feelings that matters.” I tell her.

“What does that mean, Mommy?”

“Well, it’s okay to be sad that your friend is spending less time with you, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay for you to treat them badly because your feelings are hurt. She’s still your friend, so you should be happy for her and treat her the same way you always do. Just because she’s friends with someone else doesn’t mean she’s not still friends with you. You wouldn’t want her to be mean to you just because you spend more time with Logan than her right? What’s the golden rule, Bug?”

“Treat others how you want to be treated,” she recites.

“That’s right. And how doyouwant to be treated?” I query as I flip the French toast and stir the scrambled eggs.

“I wanna be treated nice, Mommy. Like I’m special, like I matter,” she professes.

“I think that’s how we all want to be treated, baby girl. So, do you think if you treat your friends like that, maybe they’ll treat you like that?”

“I don’t know… maybe?” she shrugs, and I can’t help but laugh.

“Well, would it hurt you to treat people like that?” I ask. When she shakes her head I go on, “Then why not do it? People don’t have to be nice to you for you to be nice to them. Although, I don’t think you’re going to have a problem with that, you’re nice to everyone you meet already.”

She smiles at me and nods as I make her plate. “Thanks, Mommy! French toast is my favorite!”

I chuckle at her, “I know that silly. Why do you think I made it?”

“Oh okay,” she giggles then digs into her breakfast.

* * *

We pullup at the school and get lucky finding a parking spot. Either this school is smaller than I remember, or a whole lot more kids go here now than when I went here, because this place ispacked.Violet and I get out and walk into the school, looking around at all of the people as we try to find her class.

“Ah, here it is! Come on Vi, let’s go meet your teacher!” I smile down at her then pull her into the room.

Somehow, we got lucky and we’re the only ones in here right now, so we both take a look around while we wait for her teacher. It’s a pretty cool setup, there’s different play centers all around the room and two small u-shaped tables surrounded by little chairs. As we’re admiring the classroom, someone walks in a back door.

“Good morning! Welcome to class. We’re so excited to... Rowen?” I smile when I see Declan.

---