Kickball with Kindergarteners

I've been gone a smidge. Everything's okay. I turned in the yearbook on Tuesday, and I've just been relaxing at my place with no deadlines over my head. The Aunt is in town, so I've got a busy and wonderful weekend ahead of me.

But today is Friday, and I spend the whole week looking forward to Fridays. Not at 3pm when the kids leave, but at 2pm when the kindergarteners come. Our reading buddy class.

I think every school should make every fourth and fifth grade class pair up with a kindergarten class. We did it last year, and I loved it, but this year is different. There is something very special between my class and Mrs. M's class. I can't put my fingers on it, but I live for it like a junkie lives for their fix.

See, for some reason, when you enter these little kindergarteners into our classroom, my little ones turn into completely different people. As soon as those little bitties walk into our room (or us theirs), my kids turn into the very best possible version of themselves.

They immediately step out of the way, and for the first and only time of the week, they do not put themselves first. Everything in their lives immediately revolves around someone else. I see beautiful fathers and mothers in them.

I also see them get along better with each other. They are exponentially nicer to each other when the little bitties are around. They take turns. They let others go first. They help each other up when they fall. Things that do not happen in the classroom.

That was never more evident than today, when we played kickball with the kindergarteners. My boys, who I know will grow up to be collegiate-level athletes, accidentally fall and don't make it to the base in time to tag the kindergartener out. They allow do-over after do-over until the kindergartener gets the kick right. And what's more: it's not even their buddy up there. They are paired off with someone from day one, but they take care of all of the kindergarteners as if they were their own.

They recognize that someone more important than me is watching their every move. And they rise to the challenge.

My heart cannot bear the joy of it.