And You May Ask Yourself-Well...How Did I Get Here?

The first center group had one. So did the second, and the third groups. Only the last center group of kindergartners did not have a long-winded, chatty story-teller. All in all, it was a good day. It was much better than I anticipated. I figured that the succession of cold, snowy days might of lit a fire in most of the youngsters, and I was slightly dreading what I might run up against during my volunteer hours in Emma's class. I was rewarded with funny little snippets from some very active minds.

I am unsure how the first girl was able to breathe. She kept her eyes focused on some object on the wall or ceiling above me while she rambled on from one happening with her sister, on to what her mother said, and then onto what her grandmother commented about what her sister had first done, which made her think, and then ask someone about why it happened, but she was sure she was right, but her mother said one thing.... and this lasted for at least five minutes. If she wasn't such a fast little worker, I would of interrupted her, or at least attempted to interrupt her to redirect her energies into the task at hand. As it was, she was almost done with the worksheet, and it was keeping everyone at our table thoroughly entertained. So I stared at her, listening intently, wondering when the sentence would end. Her little chin was dancing with the river of thoughts as they spilled from her mouth.

The second girl wasn't a run-on speaker, but she did include everything on her agenda for the weekend, which included a sleep-over and a birthday party for a friend. "Her name is Eleni, which is almost just like my name. It is the same except her name is spelled E-L-E-N-I and my name is spelled E-L-E-N-A." The constant flow of words from her cute little mug reminded me of the cartoon mouse of my childhood, "SomepeoplesayItalktoomuch, Idon'tthinkItalktoomuch, DoyouthinkItalktoomuch?" Again, I stared, smiled and envisioned her in ten years on the telephone with her friend from the first group, and I shuddered.

The icing on the proverbial cake was the last squeaker. It was her second day in the class; a new student that had just moved up from Phoenix. She was shy until I broke the ice and asked her, "Hello. What is your name?"

That was enough of an invitation for her to begin her fast-paced sharing of information, "Alex, Chris, Uncle Johnny, Suzy, Rachelle, Ben, and Mommy are all coming over to our house and we are going to PAAAAAAARTYYYYYYY!" The last word was emphasized in volume and expression that had remnants of my high school days, and was punctuated with an ear-to-ear grin of delight. I nearly shot snot out of my nose in surprised laughter.