Joined at the hip

Gertrude and I have been best friends since high school. To be perfectly accurate, we have been friends since our year level coordinator asked her to have a BBQ to welcome the new girl before the start of school, and I'm pretty sure that's when the laughing began. We lived together for three years while we were at uni, having waaaaaaaaay too much fun. We went to England together and lived above the pub where I worked for a short time (which was apparently very intriguing to the male clientele of the establishment!!). We shared a hen's night, have been each other's bridesmaids, been pregnant together twice, laughed together, cried together, and shared so many wonderful times. She is more a sister to me than a friend, and I hope she knows she is part of my family. I remember joking with Gertrude once (on one of the many rambling walks around Melbourne we would do during our years at uni) that when we grew up and got married, we would have to live next door to each other, and would force our children to be best friends too. Unfortunately, we did not quite manage to acquire houses next to each other (despite my best efforts at trying to convince Christian the commute wouldn't be that bad), and in actual fact we live quite a drive away from each other. I won't complain about this though, as her husband's work takes her interstate every few years, so simply to have her in Melbourne is brilliant! However, we spent the day together today, and I am quietly very excited about something we saw.

Between the two of us, Gertrude and I have five children (gosh, that sounds a lot when you put it that way!) Jack is the eldest at four and a half, Phoebalina is three, Max is almost three, James is 11 months and Maisie Mouse is 9 months. Our kids have always played well together in the way that very young kids do (I think probably due to the fact that Max is fairly quiet and he allows Jack and Phoebe to be the noisy ones!!). Today, however, there was a new level of friendship between our little people. Jack was at kinder, which made the kid-wrangling today slightly more manageable. From the moment we arrived, though, Phoebe and Max were pretty much inseparable. They jumped on the trampoline together, hugging and giggling. (No worries about Phoebe holding her own, though - she allowed Max two hugs, and when he went in for a third she said imperiously,  "No! No more hugs!" and held up her hand to stop him. Poor Max!) They played quietly inside while it was raining. They sat side by side in the cafe and ate their chippies together...although this peaceful act may have had more to do with protecting their own stashes of chips...When we went back to the house after lunch, they settled down to watch Postman Pat together. They were perfectly happy with each other's company, which made me wonder...maybe Gertrude and I could be mother's of the bride and groom together one day!! Why not? It's possible!!!

And if Phoebe and Max didn't pan out, Max was also pretty taken with Miss Maisie Mouse (some people would call this fickle. I call it social networking!). He was so gorgeous, lying down on the floor with her and smiling away, trying to get her attention. It could totally work!! And Phoebe is already so obsessed with little James that she has named one of her baby dolls after him (except it's a girl doll and wears a pink sparkly suit. Never mind.) If Phoebs' and Max's friendship didn't persevere, there's no reason at all why we couldn't have a double wedding between Phoebe and James, and Max and Maisie...

Oh, I know I'm being ridiculous. But I must say it was simply gorgeous today, to sit and chat with my best girly, while our children enjoyed each other's company. There were no squabbles, no one was left out, and nobody wanted to go home! Quite truthfully, I could do it every single day (I just need to try a bit harder to convince my darling hubby to move interstate...) I realise that our kids may not always be good mates, but for the moment it's lovely that they play well together. Gertrude and I have spent so many of our important moments together, I don't think anyone would begrudge me a little daydream about our kids getting married one day...who knows - we may yet still be joined at the (replacement) hip, watching our mutual grandchildren play together!!