That One Little Word

VBS, Part 2.

I had just picked up Ethan from his classroom. At this VBS he's in the pre-K 4- and 5-year-old class. One of the boys in the class (we'll call him Sammy) lives just two houses down from us.

"How was class?" I asked.

"Good! We learned about baby Moses, and we made a basket like he had." We entered the hallway with the big Garden of Eden mural, all of the colors swirling about around us.

"We made our baskets," Ethan was saying, "and I was making my Moses say 'mama,' and then my friend Sammy pretended that his Moses was the mama, and we played that game over and over until they told us it was time to stop."

I was lost on that word. Friend. My friend.

Ethan had gone into a class of strangers. He hadn't just tolerated it. He hadn't tried to figure out the CD player (a favorite activity in the past). He hadn't retorted back, as he did a few years ago when I tried to push him, that he didn't want to make any friends at VBS.

He'd sat at a table, doing a craft, of all things, and had giggled and goofed around with a friend.

Never mind the parting of the Red Sea or manna from heaven. This is our own little miracle.