Front and Center

Forty 5 year old children lined up in three squiggly rows in the front of the Media Center in East-West Elementary School. In her mastery, TJ was positioned in the center of the front row, wearing her Itsy Bitsy Spider hat with its eight dangling legs. Her eyes searched the crowded room looking for Bob and me. When finally our eyes met, up popped her hands, waving as if she were giving flag directions which sent spider legs twirling around her head like ribbons on a May Pole. Since I was standing during the program, I moved several times hoping to find a better vantage point. This sent TJ into search-find-wave all over again. After the program ended, she said good bye to her friends and teachers, we said our thank you's and then she raced for the front door of the school. Out side, running ahead of us still, she yelled, "The car's over here! Follow me. Are you coming?" She held tightly to the large envelope clenched under her right arm. The twinkling star on a stick, Humpty Dumpty, and a paper pail of water clenched in her left hand. Bob smiled and sighed, "She deserves so much better than us."