Sleepover

Cady Gray's oldest friend, the daughter of a colleague who moved away a few years ago, is in town. The two have been keeping in touch via scrawled notes and little treasures sent through the mail, and when Cady Gray heard she was coming to visit, she was thrilled and could talk of nothing else.

Tonight Soli is coming over for a sleepover. It's surely one of the rites of passage of elementary school, and I remember a few from my childhood well. On the other side now, I wonder how to handle my parental responsibilities. Should the kids be given a lights-out time? Are snacks required? Can I still go wake Cady Gray up before I go to bed to take her to the bathroom, as I usually do? If I ask Archer to loan his sleeping bag so the girls can both sleep on the floor, should I offer to let him camp out on his floor tomorrow night?

My sleepover memories are mostly from a later period in my childhood -- one where listening to records and watching late-night TV were the main activities. But the feeling of being part of an exclusive group and sharing stolen moments with friends is my dominant impression of those occasions. It's interesting and touching to see Cady Gray embark on those kinds of friendships.