serial substitute

i have a small confession to make.

i love kids. no, not the kind of gushy person that has to hold every baby or offer to babysit, but more like a getting paid kind of love for kids, i think. it allows me to get dressed and speak complete sentences, which working from a homestudio sometimes doesn't. this year, i started subbing and i love it. it is not everyday, but at least once a week.

this week, i ran the gamut of highschool art (which i totally loved), junior high and yesterday was my first experience at kindergarten. i have always said that nurses & teachers are not paid what they are worth, but honey, lemme tell you, kindergarten teachers' DNA has to be from some strain of angel.

our sons were blessed with a preK teacher (back at PS154 in brooklyn) named anne mcbrearty (who all of the kids called 'miz mcbirdy') and their kindergarten teacher was mrs. francis, and miz V had the honor of having sandy mayer for kinder. they loved these teachers. to teach twenty kids how to read and to not poke their eyes out with scissors at the same time, everyday is beyond supernatural.

it is one thing for a parent to entrust their child to a teacher, but it is an entirely different thing for a person to chose to take on that child and to teach him/her how to use scissors, to stand in line, to not cry over spilled milk (which now comes in vanilla!), to share and everything in between. not just one child but twenty at a time...and come back for more the next day? it must be that angel DNA.

the thing that prompted this entry was a gift of yesterday. during the morning televised annoucements, the pledge of allegiance to each of the flags (okay, that freakin rocks that texas kids are instilled with such pride of our state.) and the singing of 'america the beautiful' are done. i was standing by the door and heard all of the little voices echo through the kinder & first grade wing. it was beyond beautiful.