First Day

Monday, June 21, 2010

Izzy was now 17.

It was the first day of summer.

And, it was the first day of Vacation Bible School.

The mayhem of three and four year-olds.

And Puck, suddenly Mr. Social Butterfly, eagerly gave his name when introduced at story time. When Anneliese was asked for her name and was reluctant to reply, Puck held up both hands and said, “She’s just a little bit shy.”

And during the prayer, he began copying every word, as usual, “Heavenly Fadder…”

When walking in the halls, he held Collette’s hand and Anneliese’s hand sometimes.

And for snacks: dirt pudding with the gummy worms, he plastered his face with chocolate while Collette spoke with Mollie about her return from Africa. Then about the time Anneliese began spooning pudding off the ground into her mouth… it was time for recreational activities with Francis and Creole and Mr. and Mrs. Plum, music with Mrs. Swiss and Henri on guitar… and Collette was never more happy for the arrival of the noon hour.

The afternoon was spent putting together a box for Joe and running errands in the muggy heat and encroaching storm of a middle-June day.

Everyone seemed to be in an irritable mood.

“So you didn’t get much work done this afternoon, Carrie?” Mom was asking.

“Of course not,” Carrie replied. “Because the twerps were home. And Puck was running around terrorizing the place…”

Puck thought about this for a few moments.

“Was I tearing da place, um, um, um, um, um… Sun?”

Carrie couldn’t help laughing. “Yes, you were, little man. Did you see what a big mess you made?”

“No, I didn’t…” he said, more to himself.

After collecting snacks for movie night, Collette and Carrie-Bri heard that Rose had to reschedule for Tuesday night, as she and Magnus were going off to see Toy Story 3.

It was a rough day.

And it was going to be a long week…