Masked and distanced - no hugs except the virtual kind - I took myself back to Grandma's Garden at Prince Elementary School.
My heart was warmed before I got there - the Principal told me that one of the after school groups had taken care of the space while I was gone. They didn't want you to come back to a disaster.
I love them. It's nice to know that they love me back.
Opening the garden without having seen what awaited me led to the collection of foam brushes and sidewalk chalk before I showed up. One of the scholars who'd worked on the garden showed me where the lettuce and the beans and the other seeds were planted in that bed; we don't know what's in the other one. Since the situation requires careful consideration, we weren't digging in the dirt.
Instead, the artists got to work.
Under the watchful eye of the school's social worker (a human for whom there are no adequate words of praise), they colored the bricks and grinned at the photographer.
The rough bricks destroy the brushes, no matter how careful a stroke you use.
Water, foam brush, smooth metal -- it's very Zen,
and strangely satisfying.
As always, there were kibbitzers.
For some reason, the foam brushes and water delight the bigger kids.
I am thrilled to know you are back with your children. They need you. I'm starting week 4 back at Columbia. It's been good for all of us, students, teachers, and me! May you flourish.
ReplyDeleteThey do need me.... the littles who looked at me as if I were a ghost returned from the Other Side, the bigs who reminded me what I read them in kindergarten.... and I needed them even more.
DeleteAnd the staff and teachers are happy to see me, too.
a/b