School Stuff

I've got school on the brain.

1. Jarrah is having a special relationship with a boy in her class named Levi. I heartily disapprove of all this "Oh, you're going to get MAAAA-REEED!" talk that I hear being bandied about. I mean, puh-leez. They are five. Let's not romanticize or sexualize what is perfectly sweet without the rhetoric. But it touches me because he says "I love you, Jarrah!' when they are leaving at the end of the day, and Jarrah speaks of him rather gushingly, when previously she spoke only of "playing kitty" with Amelia and Sophie. Today I watched them pouring water into a tunnel they'd made for their trucks and chattering about a princess who was going to be eaten by a dragon at the end of the tunnel, and it pained me that they might never see each other again after June. Which is, of course, ridiculous. Because I'm sure SHE will forget about him five minutes later, while I'm pining on my fainting couch.

2. This morning we had planned to go on another school tour. But this particular school has the cruel and unnecessary policy of scheduling tours at 7:40 a.m. When the alarm went off at 6:15, David and I both coughed a lot, noted the inky blackness of the out-of-doors, and then I said "How about we do this one next week?" which he didn't even bother to answer since he was already asleep. I followed suit in about 30 seconds. Which is pretty scary considering that WHICHEVER OF THESE FIVE SCHOOLS we choose, her start time is GOING TO BE 7:40 A.M. I foresee a lot of tardy slips.

3. This past Friday night, the three of us went to Dana Middle School to see our friend Julianna in a variety show. We've seen Julianna in dance recitals before, but we weren't really sure what a variety show entailed. The first thing I noticed is, that's a nice freakin' school. With a really deep stage. And then we started noticing that some of the kids--MOST of the kids--were eerily talented at something, which I guess is why it's called a talent show and not a "passable skills show." These kids did everything from unicycling to hip-hop to playing violin and singing "Tuxedo Junction" simultaneously. I teared up when a little girl sang a song called "My Darling" that her father had written for her--I'm seeing "AI" in about five years. I didn't really understand the mime interludes, but I adored the tiny person who hula-ed her hips right off to Elvis Presley. She rocked the house!

The most exciting part of the show was Julianna's skit, an extended joke about a candy store with audience volunteers. The skit itself was mildly amusing, but the thrilling part was Julianna's performance, because that girl is gettin' herself some comedy chops. She did this extended Valley Girl riff on Nerds that had me LOL, partly because she was so funny, and a teeny bit because I loved that she was so funny. My girl is growing up, and it pleaseth me well! In point of fact, it was Jules's 11th birthday that day, and she had the birthday glow. And it hurt my heart a little bit to see her all tall and trendily dressed with her swingy hair and her pre-teen fabulousness, and to recall the pot-bellied baby with the blonde 'fro who waddled around. How can she have changed so much? How can I have gotten so old? And how freakin' fast am I going to be having these "Sunrise, Sunset" feelings about my Jarrah????

Afterward, David said "Well, I've definitely never seen a variety show before."

"Get used to it," I said. "I'm sure there will be many more in your future."

Oooh, that will be awesome. Is it too soon to start the hula lessons?