The words tumbled from her mouth at a mile a minute. That’s just how Natalie is. She’s rarely quiet. It’s a wonder she stays silent at school but apparently she does, because she always has green smiley faces in her agenda and her teacher has called her sweet.
“You got student of the month? That’s great!” I replied.
“I get to go on STAGE!” Natalie repeated.
She’s also not shy.
“What will I WEAR?”
She also loves clothes.
“Do I go on stage TOMORROW?”
She’s also impatient.
“No, usually student of the month is awarded during the first quarter awards,” I explained. “So probably not until October.”
Natalie sighed. “Oh. All right.”
When we got home she showed me this large paper that we had to fill out. It had spaces where we had to write what her favorite things were, she had to draw her family…just basically explaining who she was.
Then I saw another piece of paper that said that the parent had to decorate the bulletin board for the student of the month.
Wait. What?
A lot of mothers love to decorate. A lot of mothers are talented. They can take a simple t-shirt and sequin it in under an hour. Me? I don’t like to decorate. My eyes glaze over when women start talking about décor and the like. Who cares? When people ask what my style is, I’m like, “Uh?” I have no style. I generally go for what’s on sale.
I helped Natalie fill out her paper and she colored it. I added pictures for her to put on her bulletin board.
And that was basically it.
I’m sure some mothers would buy border for the bulletin board to make it pretty. They’d cut out pretty designs and the like, maybe toss some glitter on there for a sparkly effect.
Me?
Well, I figured the paper and pictures were enough.
The next day I told her teacher that I was ready to do the bulletin board. She handed me a stapler and off I went.
Do you see Natalie’s paper?
Um, well guess what? A woman walked in and prepared to set up HER kid’s bulletin board. She had taken all the information from that paper and placed it all on a shiny pink background. Complete with a border. And I swear I saw glitter.
I wanted to take a picture but there was a teacher watching me from the hall. She was either A) impressed with my daughter’s work or B) was snickering at my lack of decorating skills. Or C) my fly might have been down. It was first thing in the morning. I’m not totally with it then.
Oh well. I know I’ll never be able to make a doll from sticks or a gourmet meal. I can't take a milk carton and create a fancy vase. I’ll stare at things on Pinterest and think, “That’s nice,” but know I’d never have the patience to actually DO it.
But that’s okay. Natalie says I make the best jelly sandwiches (only jelly—she doesn’t like peanut butter. It feels “weird” in her teeth) and that has to account for something, right?
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