Stealing, because it's beautiful

preschool story

before i was able to start making a living playing music i was a preschool teacher. the last school i taught in was in seattle. it was a good school and i am happy to ending my teaching career there. there were 2 boys in my class who were obsessed with a girl classmate. she was an almost picture of the 1950s image of little girl. rosy cheeks, curly hair, dresses, big eyes. despite that, she was genuinely a nice child. the 2 boys talked about her and to her all day everyday. they played nicely together and although it was unusual for this to occur to the degree it did, it seemed as if all 3 of the children were comfortable with their relationships together and were as nice to each other as could be expected of any children. after having worked there for a few months the girl moved away and left the school. the boys were devastated. usually when a child left the school we had a little good bye party to allow for the children to adjust and say adieu to a friend. but they had to move suddenly and we were not able to have the requisite ceremony. the 2 boys, on her first day of being gone, knowing she would never return, began to say her name over and over again and take pieces of white paper, color them totally black with markers and crayons, cut them into strips and shove them into her former locker. they filled her locker with this black paper. they spent about 2 hours doing it. it is unheard of for 4 year olds to do anything that focused. it unnerved the other teacher in the room but technically they were not really doing anything wrong, just really intense. they then took tape and started taping up the opening in her locker, a tomb of this black paper, like a cocoon of what was gone. then they paced in front of it until it was time to go home. it was one of the most beautiful expressions of grief i have ever seen. posted by Jamie