Best Friends

My heart swells when I look at these pictures of John and Lauren. They are inseparable. Lauren is an appreciative audience for the thousands of ideas that percolate in John's brain. John needs Lauren for her level headedness; he relies on her organization and structure. She needs him for his boldness, his easy-going, happy-go-lucky personality. Late at night, when I tiptoe through the house turning off forgotten lights, I often find the two of them reading together. They love the same books. They escape to the same imaginary places in their play where sticks become swords and wit sounds best delivered with an English accent.

Mowing is John's job. A big step toward responsibility this summer. Lauren cannot bear to be left behind and so this is how they mow. Lauren works the gears and John the gas and they take turns steering around the yard. And when the riding mower coughs and shudders and is rolled onto the trailer to be taken to the repair shop...

...they start up the push mower and finish the job together. They walk side by side the whole way, taking turns behind the mower, and I hardly get anything done here at my desk because I keep peeking out the window, drinking in the sweetness of these two friends.