Sarah was living her best life this past week because every day was a dress-down day with a special theme. Monday was “dress like a celebrity. . . or . . . dress like someone.” Sarah opted to dress as a music teacher, wearing musical notes head to toe including her musical note cardigan that was a present from her piano teacher. Tuesday was pajama day, and Sarah wore her flannel musical note pajamas. Normally when she gets home and I ask her how her day was she says, “good.” On Tuesday her reply was, “Amazing!” I’m sure the donuts they got as a morning treat added to her good day. Wednesday was Wacky Wednesday and Sarah wore a sort of tiger-print shirt with her tiger print pants. Thursday each grade was assigned a color and tenth graders wore blue, which was easy for Sarah to do. Friday was not only a Spirit Day with a pep rally so she could wear her spirit-wear t-shirt to school for the first time, but it was also a Day Away schedule. That means everyone goes to school but they do fun activities with their homeroom and don’t go to any classes.
Amy’s school week was quite short because Monday and Friday were in-service days for teachers so students stayed home. Tuesday was a field-trip to a camp where she got to try archery. So she only had two real days of school. We had a great time on Friday going to lunch at my new favorite restaurant and then shopping for new dresses so she has something for an upcoming wedding. Before we went shopping she tried on the dresses in her closet and we shared many belly laughs as we realized just how small some of her dresses have gotten as she has grown. We went to Once Upon A Child, which is one of our favorite thrift stores, and found several dresses that actually fit her, size 16 being the way to fit my tall 12 year old. Then we traipsed all over the mall in search of dress shoes. It is nearly impossible, at least in a mall, to find flats with a strap so they don’t come off too easily. We finally found one option in JC Penny but by then Amy was feeling sad and mad and looking like a wilted plant. She was not happy that the only option was plain black. I felt victorious that we even found anything. On the drive home I asked what she would design if she could have her dream shoe. She started talking about glitter and we realized that maybe she could decorate the plain black shoes with glitter glue to make them more Amy-ish. Amy has been decorating her face in ever more complex ways in preparation for Halloween. I’m happy to provide her with various eye liners and multipurpose face color sticks so she can explore her art with her own personal canvas. I’m sure she can also create some amazing shoes if we can find the right materials.
At the thrift store Amy and I also found the Sandra Boynton board book Doggies. Most mornings while Sarah eats breakfast she looks at the back of a Boyton board book that has pictures of other books and talks about the ones we used to have or didn’t have when she was younger. We never had Doggies. When I gave it to her I realized why she was actually excited to have more Boyton books. She informed me that now she has 4 books with a picture of Blue Hat Green Hat on the back cover!
Yesterday I got to visit with one of my original Alexander Technique instructors who trained me to be a teacher. I hadn’t seen her in maybe 14 or 15 years! It was so wonderful to be together again for a few hours, almost as if no time had passed since we last saw each other. After that I had my usual monthly AT class with my Pittsburgh mentor and she noticed some fine details about how I hold my right leg for sitting and standing that is different from how my left leg is positioned. I’m hopeful that this may be one of the missing pieces to helping me walk comfortably all the time. Every time I study with other Alexander Teachers it makes me love the work even more. I’m in awe of the incredibly detailed observational skills of my mentor and how much she understands how we are designed to function and can notice when one toe might be throwing things out of alignment.
Last night, despite the constant misting rain and the chilly temperatures, we bundled up and went to the football game at Sarah’s high school. This was the first high school football game I’ve ever attended in my life since my high school didn’t have a football team. In contrast, Carl used to play high school football so had lots of memories. We sat on blankets so we didn’t get wet butts, snuggled into our winter coats and wearing hats and gloves and double layers of pants. I held an umbrella over Sarah at her request, though it did nothing to stop the mist that was blowing into our faces. Amy’s favorite part of the whole experience was watching the cheerleaders. The half-time show was impressive with the school bands and cheerleaders. Sarah’s school had a much stronger football team but the other school had a bigger and more impressive band. We left after the half-time show, appreciating being warm and dry, but glad we went to the game for a bit.
For the past few months I have been the one to read to Amy before bed and Carl has been the one to tuck Sarah in. We usually switch roles every few months. Though Amy and I haven’t finished our book, I wanted Carl to start reading to her from a version of the Odyssey written for kids. For Halloween Amy is going as a siren so I wanted her to have more context for one of the most important references to sirens in literature. As I tucked Sarah in she asked me to tell her the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Imagine the inside of my brain pausing in shock. My eyes were wide, all the better to see her, and my ears felt large, all the better to hear her! I almost thought she was joking in some way. But as I started tell the story, she was attentive. I did my best, appreciating how some stories can stick in ones head forever – or at least some lines from them. And then she went to bed.
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