Circle of Four

"Momma! Dad!" Anna ran down the hall of East-West Middle School with arms open wide. She latched onto Bob with fervor, putting her head against his chest, "I'm so glad you're here!" I was next for the squeeze, rocking me back and forth, "You really came!" Once unhooked, we followed her into the cafeteria where clusters of parents stood with their blue-shirted children, laughing, hugging, and telling tales. In the midst of all the reunions we formed our own little circle of four. "Anna," I said, "TJ doesn't think your're coming home." This concern of TJ's caused her a lot of anxiety. She had heard of other children being with us and her own half sister left for school one day and never came back. Was this going to happen to Anna, too? "OOOOHHHH," Anna cooed, "I'm definitely going back home. I miss you! . . . but I won't be home until Saturday evening. Is that OK?" "That's OK, but..." and then TJ launched into a litany of things Anna has missed and she deemed important - how to feed Big Dog his Milk Bone, but the little ones don't like them, and her elephant puppet she made at school is purple, and momma's jelly is runny . . . on and on she went, but no one was listening. The evening rambled on with a pot luck dinner provided by the local Methodist churches, praise songs led by blue shirts, and a slide show of all the homes the groups are working on. Finally, an introduction of all the participants and I wondered if it bothered Anna that she was the only African American on the team. The presentation ended and Anna walked us out to the car. We said our good byes and hugged one last time and Anna smiled. "I want to come back next year." I smiled, too.