Cailyn was perky and excited as we pulled
up to the building. She was happy to
show me the way to what she called the gym, where all the students gathered
before heading to their classrooms. As
we waited amidst the somewhat controlled, loud (very loud … I even turned my
hearing aids on restaurant mode) chaos, I talked with a fire department Dad who
was there to drop off his daughter.
Apparently it was his first time as well. He was doing his best to get the lay of the
land, and he had quite a few questions for the aide helping the kids get
situated.
Finally time came to head to the actual
classroom. Cailyn assured me that she
knew how to get there, but I began to notice that she wasn’t moving quite as
fast as before when we fell behind the kid in front of us in line. She got me to the classroom, though, and I
met her teacher Mrs. Applegate. Once
inside the room Cailyn moved slower and slower.
I asked where her cubby was.
Reluctantly she shuffled over to the rack of lockers. Slower still.
Her perky smile had now completely turned upside down. Cheerily I asked which went in first, the
backpack or the lunch box. Grudgingly
she tossed in both items. That dreadful
feat accomplished, we turned toward the classroom itself, and I asked where her
seat was. Dead stop. Her bottom lip began to tremble. Mustering up as cheery a countenance as I could,
I told her I didn’t know what to do next or where to go. Finally, she managed to place one heavy foot
in front of the other until we arrived at her table. I looked down to see how she was doing. There were now silent tears leaking down her
cheeks. As our eyes met, she grabbed
onto my leg in a death grip, tears now flowing freely. Struggling to maintain my balance, I quietly asked
her to loosen her grip so I could kneel down and get a proper hug. Surprisingly, she did it immediately. I probably should have raced for the door at
that point, but what kind of doting grandfather does that? I knelt beside her, and she grabbed me around
the neck and held on for dear life. Many
more tears. I convinced her that I had
to look around the room to find Mrs. Applegate so she would know who I was. She hesitantly released her grip enough so I could
stand up, but immediately clutched my leg again. That’s when the teacher’s aide recognized
what was happening and came over to help me unstick her. I assured her that I loved her and would be
back to pick her up that afternoon. As I
reached the door, good ol’ Mrs. Applegate joined me. I heard Cailyn let out one last pitiful cry
along the lines of, “I want to give you one more hug.” Mrs. Applegate patted my arm and assured me
she would be fine. Hey, I’m a
pastor. We have kids in the church
nursery who have been much worse than that.
I told the teacher that I was Granddad and would be picking her up. It was kind of obvious that Cailyn knew me, I
guess.
All went well that day for Cailyn. I met her outside the building as her class
came out together. She explained that we
couldn’t leave until she gave Mrs. Applegate a high five, though. “That’s the rule, DadDad.” Well, we can’t have her breaking any rules so
early in the year, right?
When we got back to the house she suddenly
remembered something she just had to show us.
“I’m so excited. You have to see
what’s in my folder.” I expected to see
a puppy or something when she opened it up.
Instead it was a calendar with tiny little happy faces on it. And the first three happy faces had been
colored green. That was it. “I got three happy faces, DadDad. Three.
One for every single day.” That’s
my girl. Oh. Now Chris wants to find out how we can be
involved with volunteering. Can’t
wait.
Psalms 107:23-25 says, “Others went out on the sea in ships; they
were merchants on the mighty waters. They
saw the works of the Lord, his wonderful deeds in the deep. For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that
lifted high the waves.”
Father, watch over those youngsters in
school. And watch over the Dads and Moms
and Granddads and Grandmas as well. They
might just need it more than the kiddos.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment