A little less than a month ago, Jack’s best friend (and our neighbors) moved away. He took it much better than we expected him to. We waited until only a few days before they left to tell him and made sure he got as much time with her as possible before they left. After they left, he seemed fine. Then after about two weeks he started moping around saying things like “I’m down in the dumps” and “I don’t want to play with my imaginary friends. I want real ones.” Thankfully, he returns to preschool today and new swimming lessons tomorrow. And now that everyone is back from summer vacations, he’ll have plenty of playdates. But for a time there, it just broke our hearts to see how sad he was. Once our neighbors get settled in their new home (overseas, thus preventing any chance of easy visits) we’re hoping to get the kids to chat via video. Then again, if he seems to have moved on, it may make more sense to just drop it unless he asks. We’ll see what happens.