When the boys would visit

This photo was taken over the past summer. It’s just a bunch of bikes in the driveway but it reminded me of the fun my son had over the summer while his 3 friends lived up the road.

Those boys turned out to be an enormous blessing in my son’s life. He had been facing a lot of changes and having all these friends brightened his life greatly. The boys were at my house all the time and I would take them to the lake to skim board and swim.

I usually drew stares as I’d pull into the parking lot at the beach and six loud boys would pile out of the back of my car.

Although my son has 3 siblings, they are all grown and he is more like an only child so having great friends was the best thing for him.  He had nice friends to bike ride and swim with.  They played croquet in the back yard and were always in the back bedroom playing video games.  Sometimes my son would go to their house and jump on the trampoline.  They had a great time together and I appreciated the fact that they were such nice kids.

Then one day the 3 boys said they were going back to Tennessee for a visit. They came by to say good bye to us and my son was disappointed that they would be gone for a while, but that turned into shock when they called us from TN and said they were moving back there and would not be returning!

The family had only been here for the summer to run the Girl Scout camp and apparently didn’t like it here and missed their old home. The older boy did return with his dad to pack up so my son was able to hang out with him for a couple of weeks and then say good bye, but the whole thing was very odd. And my son was devastated to have lost 3 of his best friends.  He still prays at night that his friends will move back one day.

It’s a hard lesson in life that nothing stays the same.  I believe that adversity, sadness and troubles come our way to help mold us and strengthen us for whatever lies ahead in life.  But my son is just sad- still.

When I came across this photo I wondered why I had taken it. But I guess there was a good reason.