Almost exactly two years ago, my princess's BFF moved seven hours away. This move was so hard on my girl because in addition to being her BFF, the girl who moved was also, to use her own words, "her only Black friend." It is hard to describe how important it was to have her BFF in her life. It did so much for her self-image and confidence to have a friend who looked like her and had a shared experience of being Black in a mostly white town. It was devastating as her mother to watch my usually stoic girl grieve the loss of her kindred spirit.
BFF's mother and I have worked to help them maintain their friendship. We have made car and train rides back and forth, and went on a joint vacation this past spring break.
My princess has made new friends, of course. But it's not the same.
This week BFF came to stay with us. And I have to admit, my princess is different when she's here. She laughs more. She's more outgoing. She's just so. . . happy.
So this week our mother-daughter time consisted of me driving my princess and BFF. . . shopping, movies, Six Flags, shopping, wherever their little hearts wanted to go. I took a back seat this week. The peach cobbler we had planned to make together was already out of the oven when I got home. And I didn't mind a bit.
