A Patchwork Life

No, not the wonderful story by ZZ Packer, but instead, the actual troop of giggly girls I’ve been spending some time with yesterday and today.

Yesterday was the annual Mayor’s Christmas Parade, and our troop proudly marched about two miles, carrying a felt banner, shaking jingle bells, wearing reindeer antlers and occasionally singing “Jingle Bells” or “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. Sophie and I were banner-holders for the entire route, and Lucy hung out with her Brownie buddies and tossed candy to the waiting crowds. Earlier Sunday morning, I really wanted to bail– after a four-hour delay due to snow in Baltimore, my Saturday evening flight got in around 10:30 PM, and I slept for twelve hours and woke up Sunday morning still feeling exhausted. But I had already told the girls about it, and it seemed like such an unqualified good thing to do, and so we went, after some hastily arranged carpooling with another family. And it was good– the sunshine, the crowds, the crisp chill air, the faces of the children scrambling for candy and the Brownies thrilled to toss it out, the adults waiting along the route to feel some holiday cheer and clap and wave at Sophie, who grinned the entire time and felt so proud of herself for carrying that banner and doing such a good job.

Then today, I led the Brownies in earning their Write Away Try-It badge by interviewing each other, telling a group story, and writing a friendly letter. I showed up with worksheets and organizers and lined paper with snowflakes and snowmen and a little knot of anxiety in my belly, which I always have when showing up to help with my kids’ classes. Though I am a teacher, the younger kids are a whole ‘nother ballgame. Today, like the parade, however, worked out just fine. Their hilarious little stories were full of zombie Harry Potter characters and killer chipmunks and squids named Monkey, and their interviews were equally honest and riotous. Some of the kids were twitchy and restless and others were unintentionally droll and all of them were touching and endearing, even the kid who kept earning my “stern teacher” voice, which is getting surprisingly effective.

I’m pretty tired now and I’ve got a stack of neglected grading, but I’m truly, truly glad to have spent these days with my girls and their fellow Brownies.