Being 5 Rocks

This morning just before 7 my cell phone rang. I knew it must be either Andrea or Erica. It was Erica calling to say that she'd woken up with pink eye and one of her daughers (and one of my students) Savanna had a high fever so she nor Savanna would be going to school. Of course it was a morning when their computer also wasn't working and her husband, Jamey is out of town with the hs basketball team at a week long tournament in Sao Paulo.

So at 7:15 I walked over to her apartment to pick up not just handwritten sub plans for the day but also her youngest, Ellie. We said our goodbyes, rode the elevator downstairs and I began my best commute ever. I got to remember what it's like to be 5 years old and walk to school.

See, when you're 5, you notice things like the VW van sitting in the parking lot waiting to wash people's cars during the day and you think something like "i want to have school in a car because we could drive all around and have school in different places." And you do think about the crowded state of said car would be with 22 Kindergarteners inside of it, but you focus more on what's important, like the color of the van. Pink of course. Then you make plans of how you'll build your teacher that car out of paper and "recycyled materials from around home."

Then you notice a dog going by and point out that a van wouldn't be a good school for a dog because dogs would eat the paper car. Then you notice the colors of the buildings, which actually have quite the variety here, are some of your favorites including pink and purple and green. Plans are made then for when you grow up and take care of your baby. Your house will obviously be painted in the above colors because they're your favorites.

You hold hands with the adult you're walking with and while you hold hands you swing your arms.

You notice all the little hills where some digging is occuring nearby a building and note that the buildings are under remodeling cuz they really should get cleaner.

The Bloco or apartment building names, which are letters, plead with you to call out their names randomly, "R," "E" and "V."

And as you get closer to school, instead of walking down the steps, you grab the adult's hand and you hop
down
each
step
until you reach the bottom.

Tonight Andrea and I dropped off Ellie after some fun after school (aka keep her out of the germ infested house). While there, I found out that I won't have my wonderful teaching partner or Savanna at school tomorrow. And as disappointed as I am because I truly will miss them both, I am looking forward to my commute again. Commute from the 5 year old perspective just rocks.