A Change Is Gonna Come

As I walked into the local elementary school, I felt mixed emotions. Was I ready for this? Was she ready for this? I signed in and waited for the kindergarten tour to begin. The principal greeted us and we began to view the five different classrooms, observing the teachers and students on an average school day. I saw little six year old's interacting with each other in groups, working on projects and writing on notebooks and small dry erase boards. They looked happy and engaged. This reassured me and I began to relax a little as I envisioned my daughter there doing the same things. The teachers had colorful, relevant classrooms with visual learning aids on the walls and cute little desks and chairs.

I flashed back to a memory of being seven years old and seeing an art easel for the first time with paint and brushes sticking out of it. I was drawn to that room and wanted to jump in and create. Back to the present, I noted that London would be perfectly at home here and it was a natural progression from where she is now, mentally and age-wise. She would thrive with the new challenges and increased opportunities. Calm began to settle in.

It is bittersweet to watch one's baby grow, joyous and yet painful because you know that this time will never return. It will manifest itself in the person she becomes and in the personality and choices that she makes. I am proud of who she is now and who she is becoming. I am excited to see what each day brings and how she is so lucky to know God at such an early age and how that will guide her and give her the greatest foundation possible.

Green Day

London was bursting with excitement as she told me about the leprechaun that had run rampant in her classroom, leaving a trail of green footprints, overturned objects, and general messiness in its path. She told me a run-on sentence about setting traps for it and how the leprechaun was so small, silly, tricky and messy. Her best friend then told me in a whisper that the leprechaun had visited her house and used the bathroom, leaving behind green water. Zoe quickly became interested in this tale and joined in her sister's enthusiasm.

While the girls were out of the house for a bit, I found green objects in our house and planted them carefully in various spots that would catch the girls eyes. Green mardi gras beads, bracelets, and a toy car were some of the items we found. Lastly, we checked our bathroom and sure enough, the little green trickster had visited and taken a bathroom break, leaving us with green water!

In school, St. Patrick's day was about green clothing and people pinching each other. In college it was about green beer and green food. Now, it's more fun that ever before because the kids are so excited about something that they believe in wholeheartedly. This little green person is completely real to them and they are hyped about it. How cool is that?