Eliana invited me to eat lunch with her at school today.

Before I even made it to the booth, she had already invited a classmate to sit with us who had not previously eaten with us before.

I sat across the table from these two and we had just dived into the meal when Eliana’s classmate - with a long drawn face and in a barely-audible voice -says, “My mom doesn’t like my dad anymore.” I was taken aback.

“Your mom doesn’t like your dad anymore?”, I repeated to make sure I had heard correctly.

“No. She likes another man.”

“Do you still live with your mom AND your dad?”

“Yeah. But mom told me I’d be grounded for a week if I ever said anything to dad about this other guy.”

My heart broke for this child who was obviously very sad and caught in the middle of an all-too-common scenario.

Eliana, of course, pipes up and says, “MY mom and dad like each other. They kiss and stuff.”

I’m glad she notices but a little compassion would have been nice.