Friends
Esther was spending the night with her friend, Susan. She looked across the table as they played dominos and said, “We’re going ‘home’ in about three months. I’ll really miss you and my other friends here, but I am really excited about going.”
Susan replied, “Wow! I knew that you would probably be moving, but I didn’t think it would be that soon. I’ll miss you too. But you know what? We’re going back to visit our passport country at Christmas time. Maybe we can get together while I’m there.”
Esther put down a domino, “That sounds great! But how can we stay in touch until then?”
“We can use a chat room on the Internet. There are some just for TCKs. We could even get web cams so that we can see at each other too. They don’t cost very much,” answered Susan as she reached for a domino.
“We’re going back to the same town. I am so excited about getting to see my old friends. We can just begin right where we left off four years ago.”
“I’m so happy for you too,” said Susan.
* * *
Tossing the ball to his friend, Dan said, “Dave, we’re going ‘home’ in about three months. Just thinking about it makes me sad. I didn’t want to move here when we did. Now I want to go back even less.”
Throwing the ball back, Dave said, “I know what you mean. I went back ‘home’ two years ago, and I didn’t like it at all. I found it really hard to make friends there. The other kids all knew I was going to leave in a year, and none of them became real friends.”
“We’re going back to the same place, but my two best friends have moved away, so I don’t even have any old friends to see,” Dan added.
Dave quickly replied, “It probably wouldn’t make any difference anyway. When I went back home, the guys I thought were my friends had new friends. I just couldn’t break into their group.”
“You’re my friend,” said Dan. “How can we keep in touch? Would email work for us?”
“Sure,” said Dave. “We can even send pictures as attachments. I’m not very good about writing, but they say that one picture is worth a thousand words!”
* * *
Paul and his friend Pete loved their little cars, cars small enough to keep a couple in their pockets all the time. Pushing his car toward Pete, Paul said, “We’re going ‘home’ in about three months.”
Pete asked, “Are you happy or sad about going, Paul?”
Paul replied, “It really doesn’t make much difference to me. I like it here. I don’t remember much about it there, but I think it will be fun to see it again.”
“Do you have any friends there?” asked Pete as his little car passed Paul’s.
“Not that I can remember, but I know I can make some friends when we get there. I like meeting new kids,” said Paul.
“You do,” said Pete. “It’s easy for you to make friends. I want to stay your friend too. How can we keep on being friends?”
“My dad says that there are several ways to call each other on the phone. Some of them cost only pennies a minute. Others are even free through the computer,” said Paul putting a car in his pocket.
“Good,” said Pete. “I hate writing, so I would probably never send you a letter. I do like to talk with you on the phone.”
* * *
Staying overnight at Rachel’s house, Ruth said, “We’re going ‘home’ in about three months. The rest of my family might be going home, but not me. They said I was born there, but I don’t remember anything about it.”
“Oh!” said Rachel as she tossed a pillow. “That sounds scary to me.”
“It is!” said Ruth. “I am really afraid. I worry about being able to make new friends. I have never had to do that.”
“Me either,” said Rachel. We have always been friends. As long as I can remember we have played together. I’ll really miss you.”
“How do you make new friends? Do you just say, ‘I need a friend. Will you be one?’” asked Ruth.
“I don’t know Ruth. But I do know that I want to keep being your friend even if we don’t live near each other. Let’s write letters to each other. We can send each other birthday cards too.”
“That sounds good to me. A least I’ll have a friend through the mail,” said Ruth.