Pre-school Graduation

I slid in to the 4th pew at St. Mary's on Broadway at a little after 11am, and all around me were the smiling faces of the parents who had become our community this year, the same families that had sat in the church the week before when the children sang about God making the world while they wore paper ducks and frogs on their heads.  Logan's mom who was one of the other consistently early drop-off parents (that chatted with me about how boys are different from girls and how do you manage multiple children and will any of us ever make it through the winter without a virus that takes our family down again) waved at me from the other side of the aisle.  Amy played with the zoom lens of her camera and quieted Gavin's little sisters.  Becky smiled from the second pew, her recent happiness and healthiness seeping out of her pores.  Kate slid in beside me and I nervously touched on the subject of the night before when I'd actually gone on a date, and then the kids started filing in wearing little graduation caps made of blue construction paper.  These children and their parents had become a type of family for us, a group of predictable friends who would be there and help us out when we needed them, boys that Sam could play with and girls that could boss him around and fawn over his little sister.  Hamilton and Gavin and Gedion and Anthony and Logan and Elizabeth and Brooklynn and Luke.  Friends all.  And they were all truly blessed to have two extraordinary teachers in Mrs. Hefel and Mrs. Norton.  Is it any wonder that although I had sneered at the idea of a pre-school graduation I had tears in my eyes when it was all over?

And some pictures from last week's pre-school song program and social hour: