Here is where I'll stay

Jake said out loud in front of Ava and Jack Henry, that I was “like his best friend.”, and then asked me if I knew that.
I was kind of dumbfounded, and at a loss for words.
I did not know that. 
Proudly, I did not make a joke or ask him  why he was such a loser that he would want me for a friend. I told him I was flattered and felt the same way.
For a long time, when they were younger, I wanted to be friends with my kids, and then realized that was not such a good idea, and that it would lead to far too many occasions of conflict, as to whom I was supposed to be at certain times.
So I gave up on that, and now find that as they become adults, friendship is a very welcome and surprisingly  natural place.