And I Think To Myself

Yesterday was my first ever North American Feast. It was catered by the parents of the Flagstaff Montessori Pre-School and Kindergartners and held at Emma's school. I poke fun at the Politically Correct name, but on dissection of the title, it seems to make a hell of a lot more sense than "Thanksgiving." Or at least better resembles what we tend to really do on that particular Thursday every year.

*Side Note* I just read that Abe Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a holiday on October 8th, 1863. Exactly 140 years later Ellie Rae Grace Weien was born.

Back to the feast, it was a delightful way to spend lunch. Emma and all of the kids were ecstatic that their parents were crunched next to them on the doll-sized chairs with their knees pressed firmly against their shoulders. For Abbie and I it was the entertainment prior to the Feast that will forever be seared into our memories.

The dusty children washed their playground hands and were seated on bottoms and knees to the side of the giant classroom. The soft-spoken teacher, Ms. Maria began to introduce each of the songs that they had been learning the past few weeks. The first one would of dampened the eye of any hardened individual. "God Bless America" which came out more like,
"Gawd Bwess Amewica! Wand dat I nove!"

Priceless.

It was followed by enthusiastic corny turkey songs and even "Over the River and Through the Woods" with phrases I never knew existed. But those three to five year olds knew almost every last word.

I was waiting for my favorite song that Emma had been sharing with us:
"I'm a little acorn brown, fallen on the cold cold ground.
Somebody came and stepped on me, that is why I'm cracked you see...
I'm a nut! (knock twice on head with knocking sound) KNOCK! KNOCK!
I'm a nut! KNOCK! KNOCK!
I'm NUUUUUUTTY!"

It just kills me to watch her perform it. But instead Ms. Maria says, and our last song is one that the children have been working very hard on, it's "A Wonderful World" and they will hand sign the words as they sing.

My chin and shoulders dropped, and suddenly I felt angry with myself for standing in the front because I was going to lose it. Emma NEVER even hummed this one, it was a side-swiping surprise. Perfect tackling form.

Although there are countless songs that remind me of my brother, that tune was one of Zach's most favorite, as well as mine. We both first heard it and memorized it from a movie soundtrack. Ironically, that movie was, Platoon.

So, it is very special to me to begin with, then this soft-spoken gentle teacher has her class of adorable, little, innocent, loving, children sweetly serenading us with their high-pitched, angelic voices. And to top it all off, they are attempting to sign all of the words so just in case I could not hear the jarring memories, I could read them with gestures too!

"I see people shaking hands say, 'How do you do?'"
They're really saying, 'I love you'"

"Thanks for coming, enjoy the meal."