Today's was supposed to be a Lunch Buddy day. On LB days, I go over to a local elementary school and have lunch with Krista, my 8-year old LB. Today, sadly for me but happily for her no doubt, we (the adult LB's) arrived to find that school was letting out early--so we'll have to wait two weeks to hear about Christmas. Krista is quite amazing. She's cute, confident, friendly, smart--not a needy kid, in any sense that I can see. She may be handful for her teacher--she's into everything with everybody. We go out on the playground and it's like being with a bunch of electrons (I think)--she and her friends are zapping around so fast, from monkey bars to swings to little groups. I love the energy. Her best friend, also named Krista, looks like Amy's daughter on Judging Amy--but she's not like her. The only thing that bothers me about them is how materialistic they seem to be. The Bratz girls--I think I've heard about every piece of junk produced. My Krista already has diamond earrings, and when I first see her, I get a litany of what she's bought, what her mother bought, etc. But even that is kind of charming--she doesn't yet think she needs to pretend not to be what she is.
I wish I had the energy or something to spend more time with kids that age, because the openness (compared to teenagers, say) is so wonderful. And yet even at that age--I see some of the kids already don't fit in, don't have a group to hang with. And already they're beginning to learn ways to hide their loneliness, to keep moving around so you don't notice they're not really with anybody.
But while I'm there, I almost feel like I'm soaking up some of the energy. And after my first couple of visits, I decided that what we need at my job is recess.