When I was six my best friend was Stephanie, who lived next door. Next to her lived the Flemings who had, it seemed, 42 children, but not one that was our age. The closest was Susan who was two years younger than we were, which, when you are six, seemed an enormous valley of years. We were in kindergarten, Susan did not even go to school. We were allowed to ride our bikes up and down our street, Susan could not even ride a bike. Susan followed us around, so certainly in awe of our older and wiser six year old selves.
On her fifth birthday Susan proudly told Stephanie and me that she was almost caught up, that on her next birthday she would be same age as we were. We smiled and hugged our little friend, "silly girl, you never catch up, you will always be younger than we are!".
It's true, we always get older but we never catch up. What was a catastrophic age gap then seems like nothing as Susan would now be three years older than my husband, who is doing his best to catch up today. Young in spirit but graying at the temples, the old man is growing up. Happy birthday Jack, enjoy your weekend!
NorthSideFour: You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child. Dr. Suess
2 comments:
It's true. The older you get, the age gap seems to narrow and no longer seems important.
What a lovely memory - 2 years seems insignificant now somehow. And a younger hubby - good on you;) Just had a good read of your blog - lovely.
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