Faithful Friday: Cool enough for School

When my boys were in grade school, I frequently stopped in to have lunch with them.  Austin, probably more so than Noah, because Noah got "too cool" pretty quickly.  I remember having lunch with Austin all the way to 6th grade and that he even considered letting me grace the halls of middle school.  Considered....

Noah is a different story.  I can remember maybe making it 3rd or 4th grade.  In fact, I think it was 4th grade that he graciously showed me the teachers lounge and all its glory one morning while volunteering, an early effort to politely shove mom into another room. 

And that was ok.  I still got my hugs and snuggles at the end of the day.  I'm cool with playing cool.

You can imagine my surprise when Noah came home one day a few weeks ago, asking if I'd come to school and present to his class.  And not just his class but all his teacher's Language Arts classes for the day.  Wow.

His teacher had emailed me earlier that day, but of course, I didn't respond until after I talked to Noah.  I figured he'd say "No way!"  or, "not unless I can skip that day!" but instead, he was willing, maybe even excited to have me there.

My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.  Proverbs 23:26

I was asked to share about writing - blogging specifically, because it matched what they were learning about personal narratives.   Saying yes was easy.  The difficult task became finding posts that wouldn't embarrass my son. 

Keeping my audience in mind, I opted to share a funny story to begin.  Maybe if I could make them laugh, it wouldn't be quite so awkward.  And I ended with a story about Noah.  It was a story, of course, that met his approval.

With the teacher's permission, I was able to add in some writing exercises to my presentation.  It was a joy to see the excitement in some of the kids faces as they got to write.  Of course, some barely wrote out a word or two but I watched the pencil flow from several pages.  One of the exercises I used is an after school activity Noah and I still practice - The Rose & Thorn.  Afterwards, he shared that the class really enjoyed doing it. 

Maybe they'll go home and share more than "fine" when their parents ask how was school today!

One of the highlights from the day included having lunch with Noah, albeit in a private room beside his class.  While we didn't brave the lunchroom, I was happy he was willing to forgo friendships and eat with Mom.  The fact that I brought Subway, cookies included, probably didn't hurt.  All in all it was a wonderful memory that I hope he treasures for years to come.  I know I will.