I’ve known you my whole entire life

“Daddy, can I ask you a question?” Boo asked me today in the car. She’s never prefaced a question like this so I brace for impact. What’s the worst thing she could ask about? Mean girls? Boys and their equipment? Whether dolls go to heaven?

Boo checks out her sister’s future prom date

“Um, sure.”

There’s a long pause during which I get even more nervous.

“Do you still have a question?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Will M. and I be friends when she’s a big girl?”

That’s what she’s so serious about? Tears welled up: major Awwww moment.

“I think you will, honey. We’re going to live here a long time, and M. is going to be here a long time, too. So I bet you’ll still be friends until you’re big girls and even grownups.”

And I mean it. For all the times I’ve complained about our lonely semi-suburban neighborhood and its unforgivable sin of distance from any independent coffee shops — well, forget all that.

This is why we’re here — so that our kids (us, too) can have and keep long-term friendships even before they get on Facebook. So that they can say, someday soon, “I’ve known you my whole entire life.”