on friendship and freeshooling

it's come to my attention recently that a friend i know and i seem to be parting ways.  we have had a good friendship so far, and have been available to each other for support during the tough days of fresh new motherhood.  but now, after 3 years, it seems we've reached a fork in the road.

you see, freeschooling just doesn't make a lot of sense to some people.  that's okay.  it's not for everyone.  but it is for us.  and as we grow as parents, we become ever more aware that our children's happiness and health come first...  and sometimes even parents outgrow people.

it's not as though i'll never see or talk to this friend again.  there'll be plenty of birthday parties and neighborhood events that will bring us together.  but as our children develop into their own personhood, and the needs of the family become both more pressing and more specific, we begin to see how another persons role in our lifestyles can begin to wane.  one child is in school, and will undoubtedly begin to make close friends during a schooling career.  schedules, after school activities, and the commitments that come with more formal schooling will eventually take a rightful place at the center of the life of a schooling family. 

freeschooling families find that the rhythms that guide us through everyday life can bring us all sorts of friends and influences.  many free schooling families whom we've befriended we don't actually see that often- we're all doing our own thing, and we respect that about each other.  we stay in touch, and when we do get together, there is a flow inherent to that freedom, that embracing of the individual we all try daily to practice, and we find a closeness amongst each other that begins to feel like a community.  like a tribe, we have each other's backs, we see the differences among us as opportunities for learning.  in freeschooling, every moment is teaching us, all of us, to embrace all that we are in our uniqueness and in our sameness.  

i know that it is my duty to my family to guard with fierce love each person's solitude, including my own.  i know that to do this, i must get to the heart of the matter.  no moments wasted, no masks, no niceties.  there's only Love, and with it, the desire to grow.