When I picked Freddy up from his sleepover the other night I asked him if he felt that his friendship with Ian was as strong now that they live in two different countries and see each other only once or twice a year. He said, “Mom, Ian is my oldest friend. Whenever we see each other it’s like it’s always been. We may change, but our friendship doesn’t.”

So here’s to Ian for reaching another milestone and here’s to our young men for valuing their friendship no matter how far from the station yard each of them may wander.

Maybe what we learned from our grown-ups was to be more genuine with our kids. It always seemed to me that most of the adults I knew as a kid were posing as adults — there were only a few who talked with you like you were a real human yourself. I valued those people when I was a child, and I still value them. I think most of us got the message when we were growing up to be relatively honest with kids.

Oh – and so glad that you mentioned the closing of the generation gap. I’ve talked of that so often with my kids, explaining that “in MY day, we wouldn’t have been caught dead doing ___________.” (fill in the blank with whatever your parents did). Interesting sociological question, I think, as to why this is. I first noticed it several years ago when I heard Greatful Dead music blaring from the CD player of a next-door neighbor’s teenaged daughter, and later when my own daughter went nuts over my Beatles records (as in, large round black disks that do not work in the car.) I would have jumped off the roof rather than listen to Guy Lombardo as a teen. Think it could just be the music? Or is it just that we parents nowadays are so COOL?