Next Door

For those of us who do not yet have children but in any previous evolutionary setting would have by now the relationship with kids is both teasing and relieving. What is mean is that part of me really would like to have little ones of my own but the other part also knows that I have much to do before that point. And it's nice to enjoy the freedom in the interum.

I just moved across town and now live right next to a Catholic school complete with uniforms and happy kid recess noises throughout most of the day. I didn't notice it as much until I started staying home all of the time to study for one of my accredidation exams. Now I know their schedule and hear the buses come and go and even recognize a few of them. (No, I have not been looking out the windows all of the time. I actually do study...more often than not at least.) My favorite time is when all of the "walkers" get excused for the day (after the bus riders and car riders). They are the neighborhood kids and just pour out of the big cement building. Some of their parents walk to pick them up. Some of them are the crossing guards with the stop signs. It's so organized and chaotic at once. The are so full of life; it's almost intoxicating.

My time like that seems very long ago now. It's hard to rememeber all of the events and emotions and friendships that you feel at that age. Watching them now, pieces of that come back. I can only imagine that when I actually do become a parent instead of just a vicarious observer, more of those feelings will come back and I hope I can remember what it's like to be learning everything for the first time or to feel so out of place in junior high or to make your way through life.