The Boy Next Door

My daughter has a crush on some of the neighbor boys. And recently, she saw a photo of my friend with her 14 year old son and thought that he was really cute. She is really noticing all of these "boys next door"--both literally and figuratively. I got to thinking about something--hopefully this is WAY WAY into the future, but I was thinking about who she will date, marry, have kids with, etc.--WAY WAY in the future for some of that!! It crossed my mind that it would be nice to be friendly with her in-laws--the people who we will share the grandparenting experience with someday. Chances are, I won't know these people until we are about to become family--in-laws usually don't meet until the couple is at least engaged. But sometimes families are friends and then the kids grow up and maybe one day end up together. And sometimes couples meet each other through mutual friends who have known each other for years. I am sure that I will get along fine with whoever my daughter's in-laws happen to be--but wouldn't it be cool if good friends ended up becoming family because their kids ended up together? Once again, I am talking WAY into the future. For now, I may meet one of my friends from college somewhere--my daughter may join me and her son may join her--this will be nothing but a cute little flirting thing for now. But one day, when I get together with an old friend and our grown adult children happen to be there together, who knows? When our "kids" are way into their 20s--maybe a spark or two will fly--who knows? I won't be matchmaking--I am just saying if THEY initiate anything, it would be kind of cool. And not just with this friend but others, too. Basically--if my daughter ended up with one of my friend's sons one day, I think that would be really cool. Then, if and when we become grandparents, we would be doing that together--how fun! Of course, that can also go very wrong, too--I can think of some specific circumstances where friendships were broken because a couple like that ended up divorced or other issues--and the friends who became family had trouble staying friends after everything happened. For now, I am just thinking about this in a very light-hearted way--my daughter thinks my friend's son is cute--nothing more than a sweet and innocent crush. Who knows what the future holds--it would be nice to have a good friend become family this way! :)