There are several kids in the neighborhood that are Briggs' age, and all of them happen to be girls. It's not uncommon for the doorbell to ring and to find a girl or several standing there, asking if Briggs can come play. Grace, Keiko, Mallory, Cady, Chloe, Jessie...they have all been over at one time or another, asking if Briggs can join them for some outdoor neighborhood fun. However, this summer has found one friend on our doorstep more than any other. It's been the summer of Coraleigh.
Coraleigh is our next door neighbor. Her family home schools and were limited in their interactions during Covid, so Briggs and Coraleigh had never spent much time together prior to this summer. However, as the weather began to warm up this past spring, they found themselves playing together a few times. They realized that they shared many of the same interests...they both love drawing and imagining and pretending and finding bugs. And so Coraleigh has become a regular fixture. At the end of the school year, she would be waiting for Briggs to get home from school and would come running over to play. As summer began, daily doorbell ringing began. Ring, ring, ring, ring. We would always know it was Coraleigh by the multiple chimes at the door, wanting to know if Briggs could come out and play. After having Briggs let Coraleigh know that only one ring was necessary, we finally settled on a two ring Coraleigh signal. That way, if Zach was working, he'd know that the doorbell ringing twice was Coraleigh and did not necessitate a trip upstairs to get the door if Briggs wasn't home.
Briggs and Coraleigh have had a lot of fun together this summer. Backyard swimming, catching bugs, sidewalk chalk, water fights, fairy houses...Coraleigh and Briggs have enjoyed it all. And all of the fun starts the same way. It all starts with a 'ding dong, ding dong'.
