1. Last night, Debbie and I were enjoying cocktails and suddenly Debbie said something like, "Why don't you come to school tomorrow on Grandparent's Day and be a grandpa for kids who won't have a grandparent be able to come? They'd love it."
I didn't see this request coming at all. We've been talking for a few weeks that Grandparent's Day was coming, but I hadn't thought about being a part of it.
So, today, I arrived at Pinehurst Elementary School at about 12:45 and I made my way through a sea of children and grandparents occupying the hall between the main office and Debbie's classroom. Christy also helped out today. She was in the back of the classroom. Debbie was doing her best to explain the afternoon's schedule and to hand out stickers for the afternoon's first project.
Upon arriving, Debbie told three of her students they'd be with me for this afternoon's activities.
Before long, two other students joined us.
We took a few minutes for me learn their names and for them to digest the fact that I am Debbie's husband and Christy's brother (Christy volunteers in Debbie's class twice a week).
The children had small art projects to do in different classrooms (or stations), they got to go to a cookie and water table outside, and they could attend a book fair.
As their (pretend) grandpa, I sat with the children at each station while they worked with stickers, made designs on a card-sized rectangle of black-surfaced rainbow scratch paper, decorated a small planter with a succulent plant inside, and, for the one child who got this far, worked on a coloring project.
I enjoyed how much this small group of children liked each other, how they showed each other what they were making, took pleasure in one another's efforts, and enjoyed making each other laugh.
Things began to fly apart a tiny bit when it came time to head to the book fair. I directed my "grandchildren" to sit on a bench in the hall with me and we talked for a minute about what each of them wanted to do -- go to the book fair? go back outside? color?
They all told me their plans and we agreed to meet back up before too long.
And we did.
Before long, back in Debbie's classroom, I shook hands with and said good by to the kids I'd been with.
It all worked out.
2. I left the school and drove on the old highway through Smelterville, past the gulch where the Zinc Plant used to, by the area once occupied by the lead smelter, through the mine yard, and into uptown Kellogg.
It wasn't quite opening time at The Lounge, but I saw Bob's truck in the parking lot across the street and decided to try my luck and see if The Lounge door was open.
It was!
My afternoon at The Lounge was really fun.
Cas and I yakked for a while. Soon Matt Burmeister came in with a delivery of two kegs from North Idaho Mountain Brewing and he had all kinds of news about prominent news stories over the last week in the Silver Valley and I learned more about his days playing hockey in Alaska and Canada.
Opening time arrived and soon Doug Yrjana arrived. I hadn't seen him since Lake City High's basketball team, featuring his grandson as a guard, finished their season not only as Idaho state champions, but undefeated. I knew Doug had planned to go to the state tournament, but I learned today that a medical problem kept him home, but he had a lot of good news to report about the team, other players, and the history of how this team came together over the years.
While at The Lounge, Ed called me and I texted Debbie and, lo and behold, they both arrived at The Lounge simultaneously and strolled in together and we took stools at the north end of the bar and had a great time talking about all sorts of things, including Grandparent's Day at Pinehurst Elementary.
Originally, Debbie and I planned to eat pizza outdoors at The Beanery, but we agreed it felt too hot outside, so, as she left to go home, Debbie assigned me the pleasant task of ordering food to go from Wah Hing.
3. Debbie and I talked about the afternoon at Pinehurst Elementary School and about her students as we enjoyed our House Lo Mein, House Fried Rice, and an order of potstickers.
Being in Debbie's classroom, seeing students she's talked about, getting a glimpse of how her students interact with each other, just getting a feel for what it's like to work with about twenty-seven eight year olds in one space, not only deepened my understanding of Debbie's work, but has already made it possible for us to discuss her work better.
My impressions of the children were positive.
The spirit among them was positive. I could see that they love moving around, talking and laughing with each other, working with their hands, and creating tangible things. (They loved panning for gold the other day.) I could understand why it's difficult for these eight year olds to focus on the less tangible and more abstract subjects their teachers are mandated to have them work on.
Here's Stu's limerick. Jim Brown died on Thursday. He was 87 years old.
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