62, GOING ON 5?

I have a sweet high school pal in the city up north who teaches kindergarteners. Every time I see her, I ask, "Where do you get the energy to keep up with them?" She probably averages 20 of the 5-year-olds each school year and some can barely speak English. Even with a para professional assistant she must have her hands full, but she acts like it's a joy to be with them. In fact, JOY is her favorite word.

Now, I was with ONE kindergartener on Thanksgiving night, my great neph Boomer, and I barely survived an hour. We had chicken fights. We did see-saw sit-ups. We told knock-knock jokes. The kind that adults groan at--but cause kids to have giggle fits. We even got serious for a while and played an alphabet game. I'd say a letter and he'd create it in the air with an imaginary sword, a la Zorro, and a "Swish, swish, swish!" By the time he went home, I was ready for an energy transfusion. How my friend manages a whole class full of Boomers for seven hours a day, five days a week is beyond me.

I figured I'd wake up the next morning with a lower back so out of whack that I'd need to be put in traction. When's the last time I did a sit-up? But I cranked myself out of bed just fine. Maybe I'm not a hopeless case, after all. Still, I'm leaving the kindergarten teaching to my friend and others like her, god love them, who have the courage and the stamina to get those adorable faces ready for first grade. They can't be thanked enough. And if all those 5-year-olds are as cute and eager to learn as Boomer appears to be in his first-ever school picture above, then it's no wonder my friend considers teaching kindergarten to be such a joy.