“Mom, I am going to address my school tomorrow about peace
tomorrow in our assembly,” said Ella while I was tucking her in at 830PM
Thursday night. I was surprised at this
declaration. “What do you mean?" I asked, "What are you going to say?”
The school has been studying about peace and Dr. Martin
Luther King. E said she asked her
principal last week if she could say a few words about the subject to THE
ENTIRE SCHOOL. She did not ask her
teacher or the school secretary she asked the principal directly. Her principal reportedly told her she could
do so the next week, which was this past Friday. After this impressive story, the other shoe
dropped, “I still need to write my speech.”
I walked downstairs not knowing if this was all real or
not. E is not overly outgoing, she is
even shy around most people she does not know.
This found confidence baffled me.
I was excited for her, confused and too tired from the day to think any
more about it. We had decided to write
the speech in the morning so I let it end there.
Friday morning E came downstairs already dressed with shoes
tied and coat zipped. We wrote out her
speech and she and her dad walked to school.
I got to the school in time for the assembly still unsure on if her
speech was actually going to happen. There
was no time to drop B off at his school so I found a chair and he squirmed on
my lap waiting for the show to begin. E’s
principal took the stage and greeted all the classes, K-6th grades
with at least two classes in each grade and about 100 parents. It seemed like most of the parents there
regularly attended these things. This
was my third assembly in three years at the school so I will not be winning the
Mother of the Year award. The fact my
Best Mom Ever Award would not be arriving was proven further when the principal
actually asked E to come forward and deliver her thoughts. Tears filled my eyes; this was really
happening. E stood up, dropped her One
Direction backpack and unzipped her jacked to reveal she was wearing….. her
pajama top. A cute but very thin, white,
sleeveless cotton shirt in 50 degree weather.
Nice. I looked at my husband who
had found us in the mob of people and said, “we have to check under her coat
from now on, period.”
Ella was now on stage and took the microphone in her little
hands that were shaking from nervousness.
B decided it was now he had to pee.
He was bouncing and holding myself trying to make sure E did not deter attention
away from him. Miraculously, the promise
of Fruit Loops for the next day’s breakfast bought me some time with him. (I know I am not digging myself out of the
gutter with these confessions.) Ella
read her speech word for word; she asked the students to be kind to one
another, to smile at each other and do their personal best to spread peace
throughout the school. My tears of pride kept coming as she spoke. My baby girl who doesn’t like to leave the
house on weekends did not only address her entire school but she asked HER
PRINCIPAL for the opportunity to do so.
Everyday I am in awe of my children. Some days it is because of their audacity,
their ability to create chaos and messes or their natural talent to get their
voice to the highest octave humanly possible when they scream. On Friday it was E’s bravery that took my
breath away. When she rejoined her class
on the gym floor after her speech she looked back to find me and flashed a
priceless smile.
I took that smile and borrowed it the rest of the day.
