They Became Best Friends

12/01/2012

They Became Best Friends

Fo all I know Elias is making up stories in his head all the time. But I don't hear them. His stuffed animal or puppet names often lack imagination: "Black Bear" "Doggy".

So when the following story came home in his backpack, I asked his Aide (who dictated it for him) if he came up with it himself. She said she believes so.

He even, unprompted, told us about it at dinner--without me prodding him for a morsel of information about his school day. We weren't even talking about school.

"We worked with our 1st grade buddies today."

"Yeah? Tell us about it."

"We made dogs."

"What color dog?" Nick asked.

"Brown," Olive answered.

"No, they were red like Clifford."

"Did you read a Clifford story too?" I asked.

"Yeah Mrs. Blome read one to us and then we had to write our own."

"What was yours about?" Nick and I asked in unison. And here's where he gave his usual answer to all my school questions:

"I don't know."

But then I found the paper in his backpack and well, here it goes:

I think I'm in love. I love that his purring dog found a buddy, brave enough to initiate play. I love that his "special needs" Clifford found a best friend. I love knowing that friendship matters to Elias.