Lake Shelbyville: How to Make Friends

Vincent makes friends so easily. When we got to the campground we walked around to check things out.  Vincent was very concerned with making friends with some of the kids he saw around.  We were asking him how you go about making friends so easily and he said “Just watch me.  You just have to follow my plan.  There are 10 steps.”  Brad and I could hardly stifle our laughs.  We asked about the plan and it went something like this: find someone you think you want to be friends with (apparently you can tell they are someone to be friends with by if they are close to your age and playing something you want to play), ask them if you can play too, join them, and then when you have to leave say “want to be my friend?”  If they say “yes” then you are friends.  If they say “no” you say ok and walk away.  Vincent said it all with so much authority I was ready to give it a try.  The only flaw in his plan he forgets to ask their names.

We got to see his plan in action several times at the park over the few days we were there.  I think he spent 2 days playing with another little boy at the park and at our campsite and didn’t even know his name.  Then the last day at the park there were two little girls playing at the park.  One was a little older than Cecilia and one was Vincent’s age.  They only wanted to play with Cecilia and all the showing off Vincent could do wasn’t getting their attention off of Cecilia.  It was fun to watch, Cecilia was very excited that she had made friends at the park.

We spent at least a couple hours a day at the different playground, so the kids had plenty of chances to make friends.  However, watching Joel navigate the parks in his cast was just as much fun to watch.  He could go up and down slides with it, swing, etc.  It was amazing!  That kid doesn't let anything slow him down.  I was getting mad at him for walking up the slide with his cast on, so he would do it without using his leg that was in a cast.  He would then tell me "I only use my good leg!"