Loose Leaf Notes

I can’t believe someone would pay me to take pictures of five-year-old kindergarteners on the first day of school.  That’s what I thought to myself as I drove out to Indian Valley Elementary School today to do that for the local paper.   It’s a dream assignment that always restores my faith in humanity, seeing all those sweet young faces and teachers that love children.

Up early and freshly dressed, I sipped hot tea as I drove and thought about waiting for the school bus, all those first day of school clothes I wore over the years, the first day of unknowns and making new friends, some that would last a lifetime. Those formative days of growth and cultivation are over for me. Now my life if more about the harvest.  It’s bittersweet, but mostly sweet, especially on days like this.

In some ways, my life has come full circle.  I started my work-life as a daycare aide and then a teacher in Massachusetts.  I love story time, interactive music, watching kids play, hearing their questions and comments and helping them feel seen and cared for.  I love being in creative kid-friendly places.  I knew all the words to the Hap Palmer song that the kindergarteners made up movements to.

But then there was the deadline.  They fit a lot in, in just an hour.   Driving home, I thought how I always wanted to be a fly on the wall, buzzing here and then there, not staying too long, but savoring the time that was spent.   – Look for a photo spread in an upcoming  Floyd Press.