In the Land of BFFs

Every day, Lauren asks Mia to play dress-up-dresses.  Her dramatic flair and love of everything magical are only satisfied by putting on something with shimmer or sparkle or ruffle, and she satisfies those needs daily.  Singing and dancing and prancing.  She is super willing to play by herself, as she so often does, but oh! -- the addition of a big sister seems to make her heart beat wildly. 

Only, Mia's heart doesn't beat to the same rhythm lately.  She's more about drawing or running or riding her scooter around the street with the little boy next door.  Dress-up-dresses are just not in the lineup of Mia's favorite things to do with a few spare minutes of playtime.  I blame kindergarten.

So yesterday when Lauren made her daily request for dress-ups, I sort of cringed inside.  Mia's learned to say no politely, but sweet little Lauren is still heartbroken with each negative answer.  To be fair to Mia, heartbroken is a common place for Lauren to go.  She's just so tender-souled.  Silly and wild, but so very tender. 

Despite the likelihood (great) of being turned down (again), Lauren presented her plea once more.

"Hey, Mia!  Do you wanna play dress-up-dresses with me?!"

 "Sure."  Mia, with her silvery-blue eyes and big kid pastimes, was casual.  She simply said sure. 

Lauren was beyond her sweet-hearted-self, and I spun around from the kitchen sink to witness the episode more closely.  Lauren froze with bent knees and arms akimbo.  Then she jumped for joy.  "Oh, MIA!!  You're going to play dress-up-dresses!!"

Next thing I knew, she had flung herself into Mia's arms, hugging and dancing around the kitchen.  They giggled until they were breathless and fell to the floor, a heap of sisters.

Mia caught her breath first -- "Lauren!  You are my very BEST friend!"

And that was the exact moment I melted into a puddle and seeped into the floorboards and under the house and became one with the earth: the beautiful, magnificent, nurturing earth. 

It kind of kills me how sweet my girls are.