Extrovert Superpowers

Is it weird that I don't have to tell the girls to pack a beach photo outfit? Like, they just do and then tell me which evening we're going. They also plot all the posing and such.

I think maybe it's weird. It's a good weird, but weird.

ANYWAY. We've been back from dance nationals for two weeks, but we're about to go to a different dance nationals and then cheer nationals and why do I let my kids do things again? I don't seem to remember at this exact moment. Regardless, I figure I better write down the thing that most stood out from this particular trip to the beach before the memory gets buried with other memories.

Mila is such an extrovert. She has always been an extrovert, but apparently COVID lockdown made her an even bigger extrovert? She's reached the point where she just marches right up to absolutely anybody and says, "Let's play together." She then has a best friend for life. I'm not exaggerating in the slightest. Before we left, I was thinking about how she's just about to the age where it would make sense for her to take a friend with us on vacation, but then we got there and she definitely didn't need a built-in friend.

She has ALL of the friends.

There was one day when I had her down at the beach to play in the ocean for about three hours. She managed to go from friend group to friend group to friend group with absolutely no gaps when she would have to entertain herself. One kid would be her bestie for a while, then have to leave, so she would just march up to a new kid and do the whole thing all over again. As a dedicated introvert, I found it amazing.

But then it got more amazing.

The last of her friends on the 3-hour day happened to belong to a couple who were in very typical Pittsburgh vacation wear. I think it's a law that Pittsburghers have to wear sports stuff when travelling? It has to be a law. There's no way people are just randomly wearing Steelers stuff all over the United States just for funsies.

Or maybe they are.

Regardless, Mila made a friend, they played for about an hour, and lots of fun was had. But then it was time for us to head back to the condo, so I told Mila to say her goodbyes and all of that stuff. She turned to me with the most serious of faces and said, "I don't need to say goodbye. I'll see her again when we're at the brown park."

The "brown park," for what it's worth, is a park that we sometimes go to. I don't think we've been there for months, though. It's not the closest or the best, but it is near a hiking path so it's a sometimes sort of destination. That all adds up to, "This isn't a kid you see ALL the time, but you think you'll see her again?"

Yep.

Apparently, this particular kid was at the brown park at the same time we were, but I'm guessing based on all of the conversation that it was LAST FALL. As in, Mila randomly walked up to her and made friends probably nine months ago, and then marched up to her again in Charleston, SC and did it again a few weeks ago.

How does that even happen? And what are the odds we'll run into her again?

Considering Mila makes friends with absolutely everyone, I'm guessing they're pretty high.