Feeling a bit Eyore-ish

I would like to write something silly and funny and amusing. I suppose I could brag on my new class and how well they are doing and that it only took them one minute today to get ready for Math. One minute! That's a big deal when you're only in the third week of school. Or I could tell you about a young 4th grader who, when his teacher admonished his neighbor that he should be turned around and taking care of business, started singing under his breath, "Taking care of business...every day...taking care of business, every way." He is, without a doubt, the coolest 4th grader ever.

I should tell you that the bake sale my kids arranged raised $665.58 to be donated to the Red Cross. At today's all school assembly, they presented a huge fake check that one of the moms made to the board chairman of the local Red Cross chapter. It was from "The Bank of Compassion." How true.

However, what's weighing on my mind and heart is what happened after assembly. Our headmaster announced that the second through eighth graders would walk over to a neighboring house to sing for a Trinity grandmother. Their house backs right up to Trinity's driveway and for the past several months, as this grandmother has been dying of cancer, it has been a familiar sight to see her windows standing open so that she could watch the comings and goings of her grandkids. She is a darling woman, a strong woman of faith. In the bright morning sun, we turned our faces towards her windows and sang her favorite hymn, "Fairest Lord Jesus."

Fair is the sunshine,
Fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heaven can boast.

I know she knows this and that this, this is what she is looking forward to. But it doesn't make the leaving any easier. I know the granddaughter as well, I was lucky enough to teach her and I know how much she loves her grandmother. My mind couldn't help but remember my grandmother and her battle with cancer. One of the most precious things that I will always carry with me is standing around her bed, moments after she died, singing hymns with my mom and aunts and Grandaddy. So today, when we gathered around this house to bless it with a song, I thought of Grandmother and I missed her very much. And I was so glad that another granddaughter will have this memory to carry with her. She will remember her friends and teachers around her as they sang up to her grandmother.

Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.