Best Friends Forever

Working at the Elementary has been very rewarding these last few weeks. There is something about kids that just make me happy. I help out at lunch and afternoon recess on the playground. There are a couple of kids that are never too far away from me. They are always running up and telling me to watch them or what they just did. One young man will follow me around about every other day. I turn around and he is about ten feet away. He doesn't talk to me as much as the others but when he sees me looking he smiles.

I also ride a bus twice a week to be on hand to help a young girl if necessary. She loves to sit next to me and chatter away. I feel bad because I have a difficult time understanding half of what she says because of a speech impediment. Yesterday I had her sit with some girls her age because I thought it would be good for her and the other students. Another girl sat next to me and made me promise to be her new best friend forever. She taught me a secret handshake and everything. Today when I rode the bus she did the handshake again, nearly crushing the young man who was sitting next to me.

I thought about becoming a teacher. For the first year in college I was actually in the elementary education program. I decided to change partly because I was so sick of the classes, and because it seemed that there were more students than there would be opportunities. While I am not disappointed in the path I chose, I am glad I get to work in the classroom for at least a little while.

And the last scary thought. I learned today that I am older than some of the parents in the first grade class I help in. I never thought about the idea that I could have a seven-year-old. So maybe that is why Moose and I are going for 7-14 children.

Next week maybe I'll have pictures of our banzai costumes. I feel so far behind and yet I know I am further along than in previous years. And I don't hate mine quite as much . . . but I haven't made the trousers yet.