Blast from the Past

Yesterday was Read Across America. Great program and one that the Women's Club supports.  I allowed myself to get roped into this group by a friend of mine.  They do a lot of charity work in the community which is good and they need new younger members because the old ones are literary dying off which isn't so good, and I'm all for feeling like the youngest person in a room.  There just aren't a lot of opportunities for that any more.

Anyway, I agreed to read to elementary school kids for 3 1/2 hours yesterday.  I used to read to the boys' classes when they were younger and I actually miss it so I was looking forward to this.  I knew which books I wanted to take with me because they were ones I could remember reading as a kid and reading to the boys when they were younger. I just had to find them...somewhere in the house...packed away..safe...hmmmm. Little did John know that my volunteering would lead to him becoming precariously perched on the very top of the Scary Ladder, the 'this is not a step' step, wearing flip-flops that I had to remind him was not my idea, digging through the rafters of the garage looking for the box of picture boxes that I put away for safe keeping that I insisted was up there and he insisted was not. Fast forward several hours and I found them tucked away in the bottom of Sam's closet. Oops. By that time, I just grabbed the few that I wanted and put them in the car for the next day.

The following morning I'm sitting in front of a Kindergarten class reading.  I started with "The Cat in the Hat" which I love and can rattle off the first 6 papers without looking. Next was "There's a Nightmare in my Closet", another good book, right up until the part where I find myself showing the kids a picture of a boy holding a toy shotgun and saying, "I shot him anyway." <huh. don't remember that part. did I just read that out loud? probably shouldn't have read that out loud. okay. don't react. just plow through this and get to the next book>  Last book, "A Fly went By". LOVE this book.  It's all rhyme-y and the fly is chased by the frog who is chased by the cat who is chased by the dog who is chased by the pig who is chased by the cow who is chased by the fox who is chased by a guy with a gun. <jfc. you have got to be kidding me. what the hell was happening during my childhood? how the fuck do I end up bringing 3 books to a kindergarten classroom and 2 of them involve gun play? probably won't need to clear my calendar for next year.>

So there you go.  Remember to get involved in your community.  You never know who much someone else is fucking it up.