What my 7 year old can do that I can't

New neighbors moved in across the street several weeks ago and I have yet to go introduce myself. It's not that I haven't met them, I have, at a neighborhood block party. But to be honest, I should have gone over there earlier. I had every intention of going over there, but my fear and insecurity masked as busyness is what kept me. I hate social situations. It takes all of my energy to socialize with people. I know that is very strange coming from a woman. For example, today I had lunch with dear friends from my bible study. I loved it and loved being with them, but by the time I got home I was talked out. So when my little boy asked me to take him over to the new neighbors to play with their 12 year old, I truly didn't want to. He bugged his daddy yesterday to do it and quite frankly, daddy felt yesterday the same way I do today. We would be happy if we lived on 12 acres with no one around. But we moved into this neighborhood so our children would have friends to play with. DH and I have always been very uncomfortable here. It's not that there is anything wrong with the neighbors, they are great, but we keep to ourselves and thrive on long periods of time alone. This neighborhood is very, very social so we don't make it to many of the parties that are here because, well, there are so many of them. Back to my 7 year old. After seeing that I was not going to walk over to the neighbors house, he conceeded to let me stand on the front porch and watch him walk over. He wasn't going in their house, just asking him to play in our front yard (I'm not that bad a mom!). I stood on the front porch and watched him walk over (something I should have done weeks ago) ring the doorbell and talk to the mom while I waived from afar. "What an idiot I am" was the first thing to come to mind and then "How proud I am of my little boy" was my next thought. My husband and I struggle daily with social situations, and we've taken ourselves way out of our comfort zone on a consistant basis so that our children don't have this anxiety as they get older. As I watched my sweet boy walk across that street, I remembered his earlier years at Sunday school and preschool and vacation bible school crying his eyes out because he couldn't stand to be there. I remembered those days because I spent much of them crying too. I specifically remember driving off the church campus and calling my husband, barely able to talk through the tears because I just left our sweet toddler at the best preschool in Charlotte crying his eyes out. He would always say "babe, it's for the best, it will get better". It did get better. And today, as I stood there on my front porch and watched my son play with his new friend in the front yard, I took a moment to be thankful. Thankful to the God who gave me strength during those early years to keep pressing on. Thankful for a loving husband who wouldn't pull our son out of preschool just because he and his mommy were crying all the time. Thankful for a church and teachers who loved him and held him for as long as he needed to cry, and then would walk down the hall to tell me it was ok for me to leave - he was going to be ok. Thankful for my son. Thankful that at age 7, he already is a stronger person than I am. (I did call the mom by the way. We're going to have lunch.) Sherri