in the sky.....

i volunteer at a school in east oakland, working with girls in 1st/2nd grade. they amaze, inspire and invigorate me. i jotted this down after a recent visit...............

after several exercises I sat with a particularly squirmy girl. She was one of 6 who were participating in a "special session" I sat in on my first day. Funny that altho they were there cuz they were acting up, they take special pride in having been the first to meet me :). but that is kids.

the exercise was to pick a theme (word for the day) and make a collage of cutout cartoon pics that relate to that theme. then they they were to write a short story about their collage (viola! A book!!)

she picked a garden theme and we talked about blue and green, sky and garden. When she had the garden assembled quite nicely I suggested she find something for the sky. I expected her to come back with a bird or something.

She came back with cutouts of shirts with different letters on them (the pickings were slim at that point :). She said sometimes clouds make shapes in the sky. I asked if she liked to find pictures in the sky and she said she liked to lie in the grass and find all sorts of things in the clouds.

I enjoyed imagining her doing that. To imagine her in such a state of repose was different. i hope one day she looks there and see's her dreams. finds a path.