A "Lost" Friend

Earlier this month we had visitors staying in the house next to us - a nice family from California with two young kids, who happened to be our kids ages. Well, this little girl, Lily, and Karis just hit it off. They had so much fun playing together. We met them at the pool and swam one afternoon... they joined us for our 4th of July fireworks in the yard... and just other fun dress-up time, swinging on the swing set, etc. Well, the day came for this family to leave. As the kids finished up their play time for the last evening, we said quick goodbyes and came inside. The following morning the first thing Karis wanted to do was go play with Lily. I said she was flying home that day, and Karis was rather sad. The day continued mostly as usual, and then at night when we were putting the kids to bed, the realization of what had happened finally sunk in. I prayed with Karis, thanking Jesus for this special friend He allowed Karis to meet, and asking that Lily's family would have a safe flight back home... when I was interrupted by sobbing. Poor Karis was just devastated. She said, "I miss Lily!" Seeing her heart break like that made me sad, too, and I sat and hugged her and cried with her. This was her first experience of a "loss" of a friend. There aren't many girls in our neighborhood, so having a little girlfriend right next door for a week was wonderful - but now life would go back to "normal". To her, I'm sure it was a very dismal prospect. But we talked about Lily being her first real "long distance" girlfriend, and that they could write letters and send pictures, etc, and she felt better. But such a hard thing to experience... your child's first real sense of loss. *sniff*sniff*