Vacation Bible School
Today was the first day of VBS for Timmy. He was pretty excited to go, although he didn’t really understand what it was going to be. He excitedly put on his special t-shirt (a yellow one he picked out with an iron-on we got at registration) and dutifully carried a pack of Oreos out to the car (part of our donation to the cause). He started to take off down the driveway, but I was scared he’d drop the cookies and bust them all into little pieces, so reluctantly he walked. He was really, really careful with those Oreos!
When we got to church it was a madhouse. There were two registration tables set up in a narrow hallway and all the kids, parents, and siblings were being funneled through them. The two elderly ladies handling sign-ins could barely hear me when I shouted his name! There were kids crying everywhere, with Moms telling them how much fun they’d have and just to give it a chance and they’ll make all kinds of new friends. I started to worry that my little man would want to go home, too. But he didn’t seem to notice them. He was anxious to get to school.
We walked back to the preschool classroom where the three-year-olds and four-year-olds were and got his name tag. As soon as he saw all the familiar toys, the play dough, and the other kids he took off. I had to call him back for a kiss! Not to worry, my little man would love school.
When Kellie and I picked him up, the first thing he said was, “Mommy, I was getting so angry.”
Puzzled, I asked, “Did you get angry at one of the kids?”
“No.”
“Were you angry with your teachers?”
“No.”
“Why were you so angry?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t want to talk about it.”
We met Daddy for lunch at Bob Evans because he happened to be working very close by. At lunch he told Daddy the same thing. Daddy asked the same questions I did and got the same responses. Then a lightbulb went on.
“Buddy, were you angry because school was taking so long?”
“Yeah. I was angry because it was a long time and you weren’t picking me up, but then you picked me up and I said, ‘I was getting so angry.’ But I was not angry anymore.”
Uh, oh.
Since this conversation we’ve asked him several times if he still wants to go and the answer is always an emphatic “Yes,” which is a good thing. I just hope the answer doesn’t change in the morning.