A Tribute to My Girl's 1st Teacher

Today the kids, like many of their peers, went to school for the last day of the 2014-2015 school year. How-the-what?! 

Last Day of School

First Day of School

Last night, as I was putting MAK to bed, we prayed a special prayer that turned out to be a long "Thank you" list for all that her school was and is and for her teachers and all that she has learned and become. When we finished, she stood and announced, "I have the BEST SCHOOL EVER!" My heart galloped a merry beat! We spoke a little about next year and how she is already excited for it. I KNOW, already psyched! I flippantly mentioned, "Yeah, tomorrow is your last day that Miss Diane and Miss Brittany will be your teachers." Instant realization dawned her face with a side of impending tears that spoke clearly, "Wait! What!? I hadn't thought about that. NO!!!!" As she floundered momentarily in her fears and sadness, without showing it (I did the best I could), I was having the exact opposite reaction. This is what I longed for, what I prayed for, and ached for, a Miss Diane, a 1st teacher that would "get her" and preserve her quirks and quips and who my girl would find magic in. As I thanked Jesus once again for Magical Miss Diane, I was reminded of a letter I drafted about a week before the start of Kindergarten. I wrote it in all kinds of suffocating angst and fears, but then a hot minute later, we found the exact school we were looking and hoping for, and much of my unsettledness subsided. I chose not to post the letter. It seemed to have served its purpose of simply getting my feelings out of me and clearing my head to enjoy the ride. Now that I have met and fallen in love with "Dear Kindergarten Teacher," I wanted to shared the letter, for Miss Diane did all "the things" and more!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you for speaking the wisdom of rainbows, unicorns, and pixie dust! What about me, you ask?  Well, I have a few more days of speaking boring, boring, boring dust. 

Mama Bear

___________________________________________________________________ 

FALL 2014

Dear Kindergarten Teacher,

I know that you will likely never read this, and that my girl is only one of the thousands of students that have/will cross under your wings during your career, but I feel the need to cathartically purge my thoughts about the ending of a great era for my little family. For that is what this feels like. We have known nothing but a slow-paced, relaxed, unstructured, and purposefully unscheduled lifestyle. As a family, we thrive under the idea that life is not an emergency. Slow down. Take your time. Try not to miss opportunities to revel in the unexpected wonders of this little thing we call "life." As parents, we have been zealously pursuing the simpleness of childhood, trying to stay at our girl's level whilst always looking one step ahead. She has thrived here. In this zone.

I know that it is not complete truth–these feelings of loss that I have toward this "habitat" that we have created for our girl–but in so many ways it feels as though she is flying the coop. She is entering the world of schedules and single-file lines, of gym class and lunchrooms, of hand-raising and homework (oh please do NOT do this in kindergarten!). There are so many things that are different now than when I was in kindergarten. I am pretty sure all I did was play in the sand table with many other little hands (learning social skills) and eat paste (because, truth be told, in small doses a little Elmer's is good! It is!) and Mrs. Thompson and kindergarten were AWESOMENESS! I pray that my girl will reminisce about kindergarten and its awesomeness as well.  Which is a likely story, for you have a lot of things going for you...

Surely you understand, and I will judge-you-not for capitalizing on my daughter's belief that you are an innately angelic being that speaks in rainbows, unicorns, and pixie dust! Please own this, do this, be this for my girl... you know, to the best of your magical abilities. For, likely, you will quickly become the automatic authority on all things! From one educator to another, when exactly does this change? I attempt to educate a much older crowd, who automatically assumes I am an innately demonic being that speaks in boring, boring and boring dust! Oh! and did I mention these gems believe me to be the automatic authority on nothing?! Ah, high school. Its such a lovely phase of life! However, at home, my girl has always allowed me to be the one who "just knows everything." Though I know our moment is coming, and we like to think that we are braced and ready for it, my girl has only ever known and allowed her dad and I to be her "authority on all things." I will do my best to make room for you (*WINK*)!

Understand that this hyper-emotional state of being feels so foreign to me. I am NOT this girl! I don't freak out. I am really good at not being too sensitive or fragile. BUT my first born going to school... WHAT THE JUNK SWEARS!? I AM NOT DEALING!!! Ahem. I am having a difficult time articulating exactly what it is that I am not dealing with. But I'll give it a go anyway!

As aforely-mentioned, we have common ground in the field of education. As likely is the case for you, as for myself, one of the treasures we seek is the front row seat to the learning process of our students. For we have a free pass to our students' quests for knowledge (and if we are really lucky we are present when the metaphorical lightbulb goes on!) In short, I'm super J. You get the coveted seat to watch my girl learn. You will see her write her whole name first (she tells me her "nickname" (initials) is "good enough"). In reality, she is right about that. Hence, I haven't worked hard to change that. You are so lucky, and I am excited to hear about it.  But, there is a part of me that so-much-wishes I had as good of a "seat" as you do.

The other big ticket item... and I mean BIG ticket, is my girl as a whole, my girl. She is so awesome! Due to her extreme awesomeness, she has some side-effectual weirdness. Good-weird. Excellent-weird. The best kind of weird, but weird nonetheless. Can you just do me a favor and preserve her weird? I am full of serious about that. We have molded and shaped her awesome-sauce-ness whilst fervently un-diluting her weird. Edgar Allan Poe said it well: "There is no beauty without strangeness." If you knew people who knew my girl, they would likely tell you that she is magically awesome... Honest. Cross-my-heart! If I were laying all my cards on the table, this is the biggest issue: I don't want my girl's innocent awesomeness to be diminished. 

There is another thing, she is crazy smart... when she is using her powers for good, that is. Initially this may appear as a dream come true. However, if these powers are not challenged, I fear you will have a handful-of-challenge on your hands! Fo' rizzle. Stay a step ahead. Make her chase you. It will be exhaustingly rewarding! Keep her discovering, keep her asking, keep her busy, and keep her playing! 

Purely as a heads up, I believe you should be aware of the fact that I pray blessings over my girl, that she will be an encourager of others, that she will be persistent in her quest for learning, that she will always hunger to know more (but not more than is good for her), that she will continue to bring joy to those around her, that she will seek out those that need a friend and be that friend to them, that she will keep her heart soft.

In my humble opinion, you will have succeeded if my girl leaves your class still weird, leaves your class excited for first grade, leaves your class with more questions than when she came in. Know that I am rooting for you. I am in your corner. I am incessantly praying for you... you have my girl, you'll need it! With our powers combined, we will make this year totally radical!

When all else fails, let them eat paste!! Please. Cool kids eat a little glue from time to time!

Sincerely, 
Mama Bear

It's a curtsy... Obviously

Party for the Pentecost 2.0

This last Sunday we took a pause and partied the Pentecost! Just to toss this out there, it was TOTALLY WICKED! Now, Saint Lucia may be my home-girl, but Pentecost is ma' jam! Again, this year we asked people to bring dishes that represented the land from whence they hailed, a dish reminiscent of childhood memories, or simply a family favorite. Nothing needed to "go together," nothing needed to be rounded-out, no one was counting how many fruits or vegetables you had on your plate, or even if you started with dessert. I will label those "the additional Spirit fruits," for those that were in attendance! There were many nationalities and traditions all speaking the international language of FOOD! Again ma' JAM!

This year I tackled our German heritage, and attempted to replicate my Oma/Mom's rouladen and red cabbage. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!? For starters, when I phoned my mother for "the" recipes, I found out they don't exist. These women just "make them." No need to waste energy writing anything down, "just do it." This resulted in my mom searching the bowels of the World Wide Web–whilst on the phone with me, mind you–looking for something "close." It was futile. So, I ended up "just making them" by combining recipes I found online. Though there are already a couple of things I would do different for the ease of the process, both turned out JUST LIKE MOM MAKES THEM!! I may have high-fived myself.

The Pentecost cake was another story. I am about to give up on this cake. Not only did it come out of the oven with an obvious grade to it, but all the symbolism and counting of gifts and fruits and apostles is clearly beyond my capabilities, for I have screwed it up TWICE now. If I get it wrong three years in a row, I will quit. I will!  (Silas even said that he wanted a piece "from the short side.")

Celebrating the gift of the Holy Spirit by sharing food and time and laugher with old and new friends brought smiles around the table and surely a couple of divine winks from above! Thank you, friends, for celebrating with us and making memories with our children that hopefully they will carry with them into their own families someday... someday... a long time from now! A. Long. Time.