Adulation

I crave privacy here.  But I also know that I will miss the adulation of the children.  Wherever I go, children scream my name and wave wildly.  It’s a beautiful thing.

This evening I was on the phone, near the road.  One of my students was pushing his younger sister in a wheelbarrow to my family’s store.  They both yelled and waved.  It is not easy to drive a wheelbarrow with one hand but he kept it up to continue waving all the way to the store.

Imagine going to work.  Your co-workers scream with glee at your arrival.   “How are you?”  “ Let me carry your bag!”.  Wouldn’t that improve the start of your work day?  That’s what happens to me every day.

I’ve also become used to hearing footsteps behind me.  The thundering of children racing to catch up to me.  To hold my hand.  Or carry my bag.  Or purse.  Or umbrella.   One child per finger, holding my hands.  That’s ten children, walking in step.

It is my greatest joy.  It is what I will miss most.  The sound of a tiny voice yelling “Fa, Nancy!” until I am out of sight.