Carter & Canon

You know what one of the best things about about having kids is?

Their friends.

I absolutely love the little ones around this neighborhood.

Today I would like to introduce you to two of them.

This is Carter and Canon.

It has been a treat for us to live across the street from their family for the past ten years.

Carter and Lincoln are the same age and they have been good buddies their entire lives.

They have participated in sports together, gone to school and church together

and played about a thousand games of front yard wiffle ball.

Canon has been the trusty little brother, happily tagging along.

They have been good friends to the twins and also to me.

One day when Carter was about five, he was over playing with Linc.

I left them building a Lego fortress and went to my room for a quick shower.

There I was, all soaped up, shaving my legs in my clear glass shower.

To my utter horror and shock, the door to my room opened and in walked Carter.

"Oh, hi Kimberly." was all he said as he passed me on his way to the toilet room.

I hit the floor of the shower in a panic.

A minute or so later, he passed me again.

"See ya, Kimberly." he said in his typical friendly fashion.

I immediately called Mindy and apologized for the potentially life-long scarring to her son caused by seeing your buddy's mom in the nude. Hopefully time has erased every single square inch of that memory.

Another memorable experience came a few years later. I was holding a cub scout meeting when I got a phone call about my grandmother. She was extremely ill and I knew that she was going to pass away soon. I explained the situation to my little scouts, then we cut the activity short so that I could hurry to the hospital to say goodbye.

I was just leaving when the doorbell rang. Standing on the porch was Carter, in his too big cub scout shirt.

"Kimberly", he said gently, "Will you say goodbye to your grandma for me?"

I was so moved by the sensitivity of this kid.

With tears in my eyes, I hugged him and told him that I would. And I did.

In June, Rachel and I decided to run a little 5k race in our city. The boys and Samantha had to clean the church that day so there wasn't anyone to meet us at the finish line. It was not really a big deal, but as I drew closer to the end, I found myself feeling a little disappointed.

Should I really have been that surprised to hear a familiar voice rise above the crowd?

"YEA KIMBERLY!" "GO KIMBERLY!" "GOOD JOB KIMBERLY!"

Sure enough, my friend Carter was there.

Yesterday, I saw a mouse in the garage. I screamed.

Mice and me don't get along so well.

A few minutes later, this was the scene.

Carter and Canon to the rescue.

The plan? Catch the mouse so that Canon can take it home and have it as a pet.

Yep, one of my favorite things is the friendships that come to me through my kids' friends.

So many kids have enriched our home over the years.

They really are that cute, that fun, that smart, that great.

Oh, and their parents aren't so bad either.