Well… tonight was the Holiday concert for the Beavercreek Christian Learning Center (aka BCLC…where I work). So my Kindergartners all showed up to join in the festivities of scream singing and ridiculously wonderful dancing. As the children came in I became the evening’s distraction factor, ushering their attention to a book they had heard billions of times before. Then after much hallway shushing, the stage welcomed the squirmy children. All children Kindergarten through 2 and 1/2 found their place on the stage. Us HUGE Kindergartners were given our honorable spots on the risers. That’s right.. risers! So I found my honorable spot stabilizing the legs of jumping, swaying and spinning 5 year olds. With each song they moved closer and closer to their toppling defeat. Nonetheless, upon the concerts conclusion, we ushered out the children, trying our best to keep them from screaming in the mics and yelling at their parents from the stage. Then we lined up our rambunctious bunch in front of the classroom so their parents could come relieve us from our own parenting duties. Or shall I call it our shepherding duties? I sat on the floor with one overwhelmed child to keep her from crying. She sat in my lap, clinging to my arms for comfort. After her mom came, I stood by the morning Kindergarten teachers, carrying on playful banter. Time passed and the swoop of moms and dads and random other relations passed through. As the crowd cleared I saw my one little Kaylee’s blue eyes looking up from the hallway wall.
“Come on over here, baby.” [I call them all that.]
She came over, receiving my outstretched hand.
“Oh… is she yours?” A passing mother asked me.
“Oh… no, no, no.” Came my quick response as the woman moved, trailing the heard of chaos.
It was then that I realized that both Kaylee and I had our curly hair pulled back in a bun-like mass of curly chaos. We did kind of look a bit similarly overdressed for the occasion.
“I think her mom’s down the hallway,” Mrs. Thatcher said as she grabbed the last few things from the hallway and shut up the room. I knew her mom wasn’t there. Kaylee’s mom was out of town. But her babysitter was supposed to be there though.
Kaylee and I walked down the hallway.
No babysitter.
We entered the sea of cookie eating chaos in the gym. Parents stood socializing as their children ran through the crowd pushing other kids, stealing cookies, and screaming. [Ahhh, the joys of the BCLC.] We wandered through the crowd.
“Is she yours?” Came two more strangers.
“No, No.” My eyes continued to search for Kaylee’s sitter.
We left the crowd after Kaylee got a few pictures with a classmate. I couldn’t take the chaos anymore.
“Maybe she’s in the sanctuary…” I ventured forth trying to make our quest a game.
“She’s forgotten me.” Teary eyes looked up at me.
“No, baby, are you kidding me? You? Not Kaylee… how could she forget Kaylee? Oh no. There’s just so many people here, so she’s a bit harder to find. But we’ll find her. We won’t give up. But let’s go get a cookie first. I think that’ll help.”
We headed for the cookie table, bumping into Mrs. Thatcher again.
“I was looking for you. I couldn’t find her mom either.” Came the information.
We found two chocolate covered cookies at the cookie table and when we turned around… there stood the babysitter.
“See… I knew we’d find her.”
Kaylee’s face lit up and she exploded into story after story about the holiday concert. She grabbed hold of her sitter’s hand as I vanished into the crowd.
See friends, readers…. what you don’t know is that Kaylee was adopted. So it was all the more important that she not be left behind.
But nonetheless… after a night of holiday screaming, leg stabilizing, and being accused of getting pregnant at the age of 16 [seriously guys… me? A single mom?] I’m calling it a night.
G’night all.
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