Catholic Food

Today the parents of the kindergarteners at the parochial school that Hillary attends were invited to join their children for lunch in the school cafeteria. So I did!

After checking in at the school office, I made my way to the school's lowest level where Hillary's classroom is, and there she was: waiting outside the gym with her classmates, on the lookout for the arrival of the parents. When she saw me, she came running and jumped into my arms with a, "Daddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" I love that kind of greeting and dread the day when any of the kids stops doing that (Abigail and Suzanna still do that, too, at ages 7 and 9 -- whew!).

She grabbed my hand and walked me down to her classroom so that I could hang my coat on the hook next to hers in the hallway outside her classroom. Then she escorted me back into the gym, where I espied a familiar setup: a cafeteria at one end of the gym, several tables and chairs and benches set up at one end of the gym for the lunch hour, a trash can and table with bins to collect garbage and dirty dishes at meal's end, a couple hair-netted, plastic-gloved sixth-graders working alongside the adults to dish up food . . . pretty much the way things were done at my own (public) elementary school. (Let's hear it for Hillcrest Elementary in Tioga, ND! Woo-hoo!)

It was a treat to have Hillary show me "how things are done" at Trinity West Elementary. She guided me through the tricks of collecting flatware and napkins before going through the line for my plate: tater tot hot dish, broccoli and carrots in ranch dressing, bread and butter, mixed fruit cocktail, red fruity gellatin, and a carton of milk (Hillary and I chose white, but chocolate was an option). We sat at a table with other kindergarteners and their parents. We adults had lots of questions about policies and procedures and rituals at the school, and, again, they were happy to tell us "how we do things here." Hillary even made me stand with my toes to the masking tape on the floor that marks where the line should form for those wishing to bus their dishes after the meal! ("No, Dad, right here! Because you have to!")

After lunch, we went to the classroom, and Hillary gave me a quick tour of their most recent projects, and the products thereof hanging all over the walls. The teacher took advantage of the presence of all the parents by having us get our kids into their snow gear for recess. I smooched Hillary goodbye and then joined the other parents back in the classroom for a quick informational meeting with the teacher and principal. I was back to work an hour after I had left.

It was a delicious and satisfying meal, and Hillary must have thought so, too, because she ate every last scrap of food without any prompting from me. It was cute to see all the children so well behaved, walking in straight lines, raising their hands for permission to bus their dishes, walking the perimeter of the gym rather than cutting across diagonally, etc. Routine certainly is the key to order in a building filled with so many creatures otherwise inclined to unruly, erratic, impulsive behavior. Everything was very orderly both in the gym/cafeteria and out.

It's nice to be able to leave work to join the kids occasionally for events at their schools. At Suzanna and Abigail's public grade school, I will join Suzanna for lunch next week and Abigail for lunch the week after that. Also next week, I will join them both for a cultural presentation on Ukrainian arts and crafts, and the week after that I will be a guest reader in Abigail's classroom. She and I have to choose a really good "read aloud" book that will appeal to kids her age. Any suggestions?