She Does Get Mad

Cora is an absolute joy. We are so happy to have her as part of our family. She really does lift us all up with her happiness and fun loving spirit. Here's a photo of Cora upset, which many people seem to believe never happens, it's just pitiful, isn't it? It's hard to not give in to such a damsel in distress.

May 24, 2007

The day of Gillian's Kindergarten Celebration seemed an alright day to me. We dropped Gillian off at school, went home, got all of the rest of us ready and headed back up there for the 9:30 start. However, as the music began I realized that I had forgotten the one thing I would most be needing: tissues.

They began the program by playing the Sarah McLachlan song from Toy Story 2. I'd never thought of it in that context, but it fit, and I cried. They marched the little kids in their in neatly formed lines, each of them so well behaved you'd hardly believe it. They played two sappy songs whilst the kids sat in their seats and then they began a slideshow.

The slideshow consisted of sad songs (all leaving out God on purpose thanks to a previous year's parental complaint, I found out later) and pictures of the kids in their classrooms and during school days. Priceless!

However the real tear fest didn't start until after they marched the kids across the stage one by one, carefully making sure not to mention the word 'graduate'. They simply said each child's name, posed with their student for a picture, and moved on to the next. No gowns, no hats, and no graduation.

Following this lengthy feat the kids were all filed onto the stage where they sang a group of songs for us. It was incredibly sweet, but the last song really moved me as I realized Gillian was, maybe without knowing it, saying goodbye to her teacher, and her class, and kindergarten. The last song was especially for their teachers and I believe was a little reworded version of 'I Will'. As they sang 'And you know we will remember our kindergarten year', 'Love you forever and forever, love you with all my heart' I broke down. I felt so close to her teacher and I guess I was just melancholic about saying goodbye, something I don't do well. I found it so sweet, however, none of the kids seemed sad about it at all.

They all seemed to find it was just another exciting part of life and it was all good. We should all be more like them. They weren't sad, they were looking forward to the bright things ahead of them instead of crying about what they were leaving.