27. April 2013 · Comments Off on Awesome Mothers · Categories: D. 5 to 8 years · Tags:

My sister tells me that the nuns, whom we must call “Mother Socorro,” or “Mother Monique,” are married to God, who is our father in heaven.   Those are not their real names, which are secret. 

Seven is the age of reason.  Until you reach that moment, you’re cut a lot of slack.  I am five when I go with my sister to her school across the park.  She is well into the age of reason.  In fact, she is First of the Class, which makes all the mothers happy.   I get to bask  in her glow.

I am in kindergarten, where they give us stuff to play with all day, indoors and out, and I think it‘s heaven enough.  There is a carousel swing in the back that our whole class can get on at the same time.  It squeaks and clanks as we scramble into the swinging seats.  We all have to push in the same direction with our feet, and when we let go there is a mighty screech as the carousel starts to turn on its own.  This is when we all start howling like banshees.

The sisters come running from the kitchen.  The sisters are novices.  It means they didn’t get to marry God yet.  They never try to stop us.  I think they just like to run out when we howl because they are always laughing.

The next year, we leave the low tables and mobiles for a no fun room with rows of desks.   But I get my own desk.  The top opens and I can put things inside.  There’s a slot for my new pen and an inkwell for dipping.

My sister’s book has an owl that sings “tweet twoo” at night and comes to the window. We climb on it and fly to cool faraway places.  I want to do it again and again, and finally my sister says do it yourself, PEST!  She doesn’t even mind that she has to show me how.  I don’t tell Mother I know what she is teaching.  My sister has already told me that nobody likes a showoff.  I don’t want to sit outside in the hallway with a pointy paper cap on my head with big letters that spell DUNCE.

That happened to Lucy.  Mother noticed that she was daydreaming again.  Out of the blue Mother whipped out the dunce cap and put it on Lucy.  At recess, the whole school came to see Lucy.  But Lucy was no dunce.  She liked the attention.  She smiled and put the hat on this way and that.  In a flash, she became a celebrity! 

Mother knew Lucy was not stupid stupid.   She was using In God’s Eyes reasoning which the Mothers used.  It’s like, daydreaming in class when you are so bright is throwing away God’s gift which is STUPID.  The dunce cap couldn’t say there are many kinds of stupid.  It totally disappeared.

 

SantRos

 St. Rose of Lima School

morning glories

The whole left wall was covered with morning glories

spirit mother

Heaven Mother

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