Sisters on a Burning Hot Sidewalk

I remember the day when I heard my baby Cami giggling from another room. Confused as to what there was to giggle about all by herself, I was surprised and delighted to find two-year-old Spencer in there performing some antic that she found hilarious. With Cami's giggles as his reward, Spencer continued on as Cami's personal entertainer for several more months. Before long Cami was following Spencer around the house being his assistant fire fighter, pirate colleague, and fellow car racer (that's what happens when you have a boy first).

Watching the new seeds of friendship develop between my children is one of my favorite stages in their lives.

Of course along with those strong, passionate friendships of sharing a house and the same set of parents comes with its downside too. There is always a toy that everyone wants. Or a piece of cake that is microscopically smaller than their siblings' piece. Or someone who ruined that project they've been working on for days. There's always something.

Every once in a while though, I see a glimpse of a more mature friendship that I hope they will all one day share together. Like yesterday when Cami jumped in the car and had forgotten her shoes at home.
What we were doing was all outdoors, so it didn't really matter that she didn't have them, but she was still really upset about it.

We were too far away from home to turn around and despite our best efforts we could not locate even a spare pair of socks in the car, yet alone shoes. I was feeling a little frustrated and helpless, after all Cami is a bit too heavy to carry these days.

What happened next brought a tear to my eye and a jolt of motherly pride to my heart....

Although the pavement was extremely hot and Emma had to dance and run until she could get to a shady or grassy place to walk, she never once complained or asked for her shoes back.

Eventually after our short walk through Arlington stretched into a 3+ mile hike in 90° weather (thanks to my lousy sense of direction), Cami ended up giving piggy back rides to Emma during long stretches of shade-less pavement. As touching as I found the whole experience and as much as I hoped that that kind of unselfish kindness was to be the wave of the future in our family, today it was back to business as usual.

Even still I'm holding out hope...

Today unselfishly sharing their shoes and in a couple of years happily sharing the car.