Spicy Dragons & Dinosaurs

Tonight, I am ready to write about Julia again. There are times when it is all so normal -- life moving on, life without David, but oh so normal. I want to ask was it all a dream, and of course, I know it wasn't. But this streams through me.

But then tonight . . .

Julia and I, the new we, went to friends for dinner. Suzanne, my friend (I now know 4 Suzanne which is amazing after a lifetime of knowing very, very few), has two kids -- one a bit older than Julia and one a bit younger. Suzanne had prepped her kids a bit about Julia -- she sometimes uses third person to refer to herself, and sometimes thinks differently, and warned them about calling her Julia Dinosaur -- and when Julia arrived I let her go and play. She went upstairs to play in the kids' rooms, and interestingly, played more with the older child than the younger one. But that child, J, also has an interest in dinosaurs and Julia asked questions of him and he answered. She came downstairs with the other kids for supper and then dessert. And was just a bit reluctant to leave when it was time.

I have been shy about having Julia play with kids of my friends. Even when they, the friends have offered, I did not want it to be difficult for the children. But I see that Julia can handle more and more. There was no whiff of any hitting or physical threats. There was no problems with sharing. There haven't really been for a long time. And at the end of the visit J offered to lend Julia a special dinosaur book and Julia was so happy to do the borrowing.

Once home she told me she had fun tonight and then set to drawing dinosaur after dinosaur in her new drawing journal.

And so, I will endeavor to find Julia some playmates. Maybe some will stick. Maybe one or two will become friends.

A mother can dream.