Even though she was itching to play, Raven sat patiently on the chair while the staff painted her cheeks with glittery purple makeup. Her bestfriend from kindergarten, Bahar, stood on the side with another girl. Both of them just as eager to dash out of the party room.

“I have to wait for my friend,” Bahar told the other friend.

Bless her beautiful heart, she did try for a good three minutes. But her excitement got the best of her as it became apparent that Raven’s makeup was going to take longer than she anticipated.

“Raven,” she said in a voice loud and deliberate, giving an important instruction as if one of them was in danger of not being able to make it. “I’ll meet you at the volcano, okay?”

“Okay,” Raven replied quietly, rushing out to their meeting spot as soon as her makeup was done.

As I followed them around the play area because I can be a bit cautious like that especially when older kids are around, I thought about how these girls have been friends since they were four years old. How Bahar didn’t want to attend kinder if she saw that Raven wasn’t there. How Raven’s stories at the end of the day when we picked her up would be about the things that she and her friend Bahar did together.

It’s a very special thing.

I don’t know where their friendship would lead them but for now, I’m glad they have each other for videocalls and playdates.

*Raven at 7 years old