Meesha Makes Friends

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Lisa Bueno** (0:30)
Okay, our friends, we've got one more story for you today about those great big feelings. We've been reading through feelings books, and there's a whole series of them written by a man named Tom Parsville. He's written so many books that you should read, my friends. I'm just going to leave it to you at that. We've read one about being shy, about being worried, about feeling normal. We're going to do another important one today, which I feel like we all have to do this, right? And it's called Meesha Makes Friends. Do you make friends? Have you ever struggled to make friends? Because I have from time to time, have you? Yeah. So today's story is read by Mommy and... Philip! Philip! So we're going to get right into it. There are lots of ways to make friends, okay? And I want you to think about something that makes you special just like Meesha does. Okay? So when we open the book, we can see Meesha is in her room and it says, Meesha loved making things. And it looks like she's very crafty, right? Yeah. She could make pictures out of numbers. And she's got a one, a four, a two, a four, a seven, and an eight. And she's made it into a lovely looking lady with her arm up. Wee!
And pictures out of sounds. Have you ever heard a sound and thought, boy, that looks like, or that makes me think of this thing, something you might see. That's what she's got going on. Sometimes she made pictures out of both. Have you ever heard a song or seen an image and thought of something? Yeah, she's doing that here. It's pretty cool.
But there was one thing that Meesha found hard to make. Guess what it is?
Friends. Yeah, it's hard. I get it.
Everybody else seemed to find it easy, but not Meesha. And here she is talking to some other kids, and she says to them, 97 is the bluest number.
Do you think 97 is the bluest number? You do?
When she tried, she didn't know what to do, what to say, or when to say it. And here are some kids sitting down. It looks like they're having a conversation, and she runs up and goes, Tag, you're it. But they are not playing tag right now. Remember how there are times when I talk to you, Philip, about reading the room. What are other people doing? When you walk into a room, read the room, see what other people are doing, and that kind of helps you make a decision as to what you should do in that room.
For Meesha, making friends was so difficult that she wondered if she would ever be able to do it.
Have you ever felt that way? Then one evening, Meesha had an idea. She got out her paints, her pencils, and all her other tools.
Then she started to cut and stick and glue and sew.
What do you think she's doing? Soon, she had made a whole group of really fun friends.
Friends that were easy to be around. Friends that she could take with her wherever she was. And they are really nice looking friends. There's like a rabbit or maybe two, and a panda type, a robot, and some other critters. Maybe this is a hedgehog. What do you think? Or an owl? It's got a beak. It's hard to say. Admittedly, Meesha's new friends weren't very good at tennis, because they're craft, right? Or soccer. In the picture, we can see her just trying to play with them. Or catch. She knocks them over, bonks them in the head. But Meesha felt comfortable with them. And that was what mattered?
Is that what matters? One day, Meesha's mom said they were going to a party. She said there would be lots of nice people there. She said it would be fun. Meesha wasn't so sure. She looks really worried. The party was noisy, chaotic and unpredictable. Everyone else was playing together. And Meesha just couldn't find a way in. In fact, all those noises made her uncomfortable. In the picture, we can see her holding her head and closing her eyes because it's just so loud at this party. She ran off to find a quiet corner where she could make her own friends.