A tough loss

I'm not referring to the Annihilation in Anaheim, though there are a lot of long faces around here today.

No, the loss is much worse than that: Jensen is moving!

This isn't a shock, because it's been in the works for a long time. His family signed a contract last fall on a new house being built out in the 'burbs, and their current house has been on the market ever since. It finally sold over the weekend, and the new buyer is insisting on a quick close, i.e. next week! We thought they'd at least be around through August. Instead, they're scrambling to fill their housing gap over the summer, and it looks like they'll be decamping to grandma & grandpa's place on the East Coast. So now we're facing the fact that Henry's best buddy is soon leaving for good.

Bummer.

Seriously--I am so sad about this! Sad for Henry, and sad for us, too. Not having Jensen and his family down the street anymore will take away our easiest, most convenient way to entertain Henry when we've got gaps in our day, or he's bored, or we want a little adult companionship for a trip to the park, etc. Henry and Jensen get along about as well as two 3-year-olds can, but I think the real reason the relationship has worked so well is that our families have a similar approach to daily life. In other words, they're disorganized too, and more than happy to just go with the flow to get through the day. So they're always up for doing stuff on short notice, they don't get all tense if we knock on their door and see if they want to come out and play (the answer is almost always yes), and mark time on the weekends by "morning" and "afternoon" rather than the hour. There's no need to schedule "play dates" days in advance, no fancy plans to put in place. Just show up, hang out, and marvel at how loud the two boys get when they're together.

I'm sure we'll probably arrange a few get-togethers after they've settled into their new digs on the far western edge of Ottawa's far western suburb, but it just won't be the same. After all, these get-togethers will have to be organized ahead of time (neither family's strong suit). And I don't know who will fill the gap when Henry says, "let's go knock on Jensen's door!" and we have to remind him that Jensen doesn't live there anymore. There are no obvious candidates. I used to think of our neighborhood as being full of KIDS Henry's age, but slowly I've realized that it's actually full of GIRLS Henry's age. And this is starting to matter. For example, our next-door neighbor told me last week that her 4-year old was adamant that she wanted NO BOYS at her recent birthday party, so Henry wasn't invited. The little girls seem to be more and more into doing little girl things, which apparently doesn't include acting like a tyrannosaurus rex and throwing handfuls of dirt and pebbles down the storm grate--activities currently at the top of Henry's list. And he just isn't into dressing up like a fairy princess and playing make-believe. So, limited options in the immediate vicinity.

Our challenge now is to find Henry a friend in the neighborhood with easygoing parents with whom we can sustain some chit-chat while the kids tear around doing little boy things. Or, we have to sign up for a bunch of activities. Either way, it's the end of an era. And I'm really going to miss them.