The First Chapter of Ben and Stella

Ben and Stella met in 2002 when they both attended the same preschool. Stella's mom and I become fast friends as we were both doing this motherhood thing on our own and therefore had a lot in common. Not to mention, she had the cutest 2 year old girl I had ever seen.

It also took Ben and Stella maybe 5 minutes to become good friends. Right from the beginning they were laughing together, getting into all sorts of mischief together and just being babies together. (anyone under the age of 4 is a baby to me)

From an early age, Emily and I would take turns having the little punks over to each other's homes so the other single mom could get a breather.

One of the things I loved about Ben and Stella's friendship from early on was that they never had the boy/girl gap. They were just best friends. And since neither of them had siblings, they played that role for each other as well.

There were never questions of "Where is your Dad?" or "Why do you just have a mom?" and for that I was always grateful. It was just so easy for the two of them. Effortless.

Birthdays were always celebrated together. Camps were attended together. They stayed in the same class together all through preschool and then stayed friends after preschool. Through it all Ben and Stella were thick.
Unfortunately, sometimes adults don't play as nice as kids. Emily and had a "break up" for reasons so ridiculous we can easily laugh at it now. We weren't in touch for over a year. Recently we reconnected and at first I was worried that perhaps, now that they were older and had their own sets of friends, Ben and Stella might have a harder time getting their special connection back. I was clearly very wrong as just like the first time they met, it took about 5 minutes for these two to pick up where they left off. During their time apart, they both grew taller, skinnier, have lots less teeth and have moved from loving Barney to Soulja Boy. But other than those superficial differences, they are exactly the same.
Watching them recently pick up as if no time as passed has reminded me that good friendship's are such a gift. I truly hope that these two understand that notion when they are older and never forget these precious times. Something tells me they won't as they have a pretty good start.

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.

'Pooh,' he whispered. 'Yes, Piglet?'

'Nothing,' said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw, 'I just wanted to be sure of you.'”