As a parent, I am so grateful for Hailey’s friends. As a single parent I am doubly grateful. It’s so important to talk to your kids, but that doesn’t mean our kids always talk to us. They need friends to talk to, friends who sympathize and understand. All we can do is hope they make good choices with those friends so they are not being given hurtful advice.
I have been so lucky; Hailey has had some amazing friends. Girls and boys that I love to have around. She met her best friend on the first day of kindergarten and they have been inseparable since then.
Hailey’s best friend’s parents got divorced a few months before her father and I did. It was so wonderful for Hailey to have someone to talk to who knew exactly how she felt. The best part was that this little girl was someone I would have chosen for my daughter’s friend.
They both moved out of the home they had lived in since they were toddlers and moved into apartments for the first time ever. New schools, new teachers, new friends, new routines. Along with Mom’s who were suddenly much busier and a whole lot more stressed.
Fortunately they had each other. I think it made the divorce easier because it was real time for both of them. Hailey didn’t have to hear someone say it would get better and she would be happy. She got to rant and rave about how unfair life is to the one person who knew exactly what she was talking about.
Their lives have changed, there have been more moves, stepfathers, stepsiblings, more divorces and even more moves. Still they have remained friends and when one of them is hurting, the other one still understands.
I am so grateful for this best friend who held my daughters hand through the divorce and together they figured out a way to make sense of it all. They have helped each other more than they realize.