Interacting Kids

Today, I took my kids to the bus stop and noticed a small, almost imperceptible change but it was indeed there. All of the kids were playing together more than they have in the past. I noticed groups of girls talking and laughing, boys playing football and general running around. This goes on daily but since Sunday, there seems to be a better sense of unity. I rethought it several times to see if I was "making this up" but it was indeed there.

Why? Sunday they announced ward boundary changes and for the first time since we have lived here, all of the kids in our "closed " neighborhood (meaning we have three entrances off the same street that are the only way to come and go into our neighborhood) are in the same ward. (Which for the handful of non-Mormon readers means we will all be attending the same church at the same time on Sunday.) As adults, we were thrilled and my kids seemed excited about it but I wasn't sure if they got what the ward boundary changes meant.

Looking at the bus stop today, I think they do. They seemed to be nicer to each other and feel good about including every one now that they knew we were all going to be together on Sunday. That might not seem like a big deal, just one more day when they have six other days in the same neighborhood but in the Mormon culture, that one day is not just one day. It means that during the week, the girls will go to Activity Days together and the boys will go to Scouts together. It means Primary parties, ward parties, church visits, service projects and often more such activities together. So, even though they are young, they got it. They were even more friendly with me. Before, I was the crazy mother, who always drove her kids to the bus stop and waited and watched until the bus came. Occasionally I hollered out to one of them to not run into the road or stop throwing snowballs at cars but for the most part, I was just a presence to let the kids know an adult was there. Today, I was Sister Janice Dentist Wife, the lady who is going to be in their ward.

I can just feel how good this is all going to be.