Birthday Lunch

Little Ro's birthday is on Tuesday so we went out for a family lunch today. A bit of a painful affair for me as I am still annoyed with sister number one after the funeral/car riding debacle.

I wanted for it to be over as soon as possible, but we made it through a couple of hours. It was hot and cramped in the pub, and eventually I took Lucy outside to search for bugs. We showed her how to put her stones that she'd collected in her pockets for safekeeping ;-) 

We were tired when we got home- eating in the middle of the day tends to do that! Around 5pm mum and I walked the dog with my friend S, and we stopped in at the pub. Little B was very well behaved despite wanting to carry on to the park but we did that on the way back!

Whilst we were there a little boy in my class and his family spotted us, and came over to say hello. I'd spied them when I was at the bar but decided not to pre-warn my friend S. None of the children have clapped eyes on her since early November. He said hello and you could see that he recognised her voice and face but obviously she looks very different having lost most of her hair. 

We chatted and said hello and off they went. S said it was fine, even a good thing to get it out in the open. A few moments later they came back, and his grandmother insisted in buying all three of us another drink! It was so kind of her, and she even said to my mum "do you know what a fantastic teacher she is!"! My mum replied "I Know!". My friend S helpfully chirped "oh, I'll tell you the truth!" ;-) They're a lovely family, and it's always nice to hear nice things- too often parents are horrible to teachers! They've said a few times over the year, "thank you for making F so happy" which to be honest means more than anything else! 

I couldn't stop thinking about their kindness. I know they can see that S has not been well, and it was such a nice gesture. It always restores my faith in humanity ;-) 

Today (Monday) we had a chat about S's hair. The little boy said his mum had talked to him about it, and I explained to all of them that her 'special medicine' as we called it, had indeed made her lose most of her hair. We said we'd take some pictures when she's ready so that I can show them and sort of drip-feed the idea to them, and she's happy to do that. To be honest I was happy to talk about it today- there were giggles and a bit of silliness from a few, but they're only five and six. Most were concerned faces, listening carefully and taking in the information. Hopefully when she does return, there should be no shock, and we'll have got the silliness out of the way. 

I was quite productive for a Monday. I've slept terribly the last couple of nights, and I'm hoping for a better one tonight. I made myself finish an assignment for college....