An Unlikely Friend (by Bethany)

I made a new friend recently. I talk to her at least once a day, often twice. She asks me about my family and my church and my weekend.  I ask her about how the schools here work (we recently moved in), community events, and the music she plays. She is always happy to see me. She loves my kids, is always interested in them, and helps me tend them as much as she can. I’m so lucky to have her as a friend.

Did I mention she’s in the fourth grade?

I met Megan the first day I took my first grader, Grace, to the bus stop. She immediately started talking to us, playing with the baby, and answering the many questions I had about the school. She’s a cute, chubby girl with African parents and the most adorable little kindergartener brother you’ve ever seen. Her mom gives her interesting new hairdos every week or two, often with extensions weaved in. It’s nice to have someone to ask all my questions about African hair to!

Megan is at the bus stop every morning when I walk up with my stroller and three kids. She leaves whoever she is visiting with, and comes to hang out with us. She talks and talks, but I don’t mind. She’s very entertaining, interesting, and sweet. She helps entertain baby Charlie, and keeps telling me I need to get him a tuxedo and a baby limo, since he’s gonna be famous! She likes to pull him out of his stroller and hold him, even though he’s huge. When Alice falls (or gets pushed!) down, Megan is right there trying to comfort her. She’s a good kid.

We have our share of “fights”, as any friends do. One day, Grace got off the bus, and we needed to rush home to get her to ballet on time, so we started walking fast. Eventually, Megan came huffing and puffing up behind me. “Hell-O! Didn’t you hear me calling you?! You could wait up!” She was pretty upset at the time, but like any good friend, she quickly forgave and all was well the next day.

She’s a really funny kid too. A lot of times, she likes to push Charlie’s stroller for me on the walk home. One day, she said, “So, it seems to me, you should start paying me for my services. I was thinking a dollar per block. So, I’ve probably been pushing the stroller for like 6 days now, so you owe me about eighteen dollars.” I told her she’s too expensive, and I was gonna hire her little brother. She was shocked! “Uh, okay, how about just a dollar for all of it? Just bring me a dollar tomorrow, okay?” I told her I could just push the stroller myself. “Maybe I should charge you for the privilege of pushing the stroller of the amazing Charlie!” I said. Ha!

The other day, Grace got off the bus in the afternoon, and I asked her how her day was. She said it was bad, and Megan chimed in and said Grace’s friend wouldn’t sit by her on the bus, but that Megan let Grace sit by her. I told Megan that was nice of her, and waited until we were all settled at home for Grace to tell me about it.

Holding Grace on my lap on the living room floor, she told me that the friend she usually sits by on the bus has started not wanting Grace to sit with her. She sits with random people she doesn’t even know rather than saving a spot for Grace. When Grace tried to sit by her, the girl told her no, and Grace tried to find out why. By then, the bus driver was yelling for Grace to find a seat so they could move on. Megan told Grace to come sit by her.

“Megan’s a nice girl, huh, Grace?” I said.

“Yeah. She let me lay my head in her lap while I cried.”

I couldn’t hold back the tears. I felt so sad for my sweet, little girl. At the same time, I felt so grateful for the compassion and kindness of Megan. She was there for Grace when I couldn’t be.

Megan may be just a kid I talk to at the bus stop, and she may only know me as “Grace’s mom”, but I will always consider her my friend.

Megan's the tall one behind my little blonde Grace.