A KIndergarten Tea

 This was my third kindergarten tea at Gladwyne Elementary School.  Today we were Henry’s guests in Mr. Brown’s kindergarten.  

We left home at 8:29–with plenty of time to get to Gladwyne, a one hour drive as scheduled.  However, there was lots of rain and we came to a complete standstill two times on I-276.  It was clear we were not going to make it by 10:00 am and I was so sad to be disappointing Henry.  He did ask why we were late! 

We found a parking spot and it was a long walk with my walker on a bumpy path through a field to the school entrance.  A guard greeted us and had us sign in and show our ID.  I’m glad schools are so conscious of safety.  He told us how to get to the classroom.

  Mr. Brown was reading a book to the class and grandparents.  It appeared to be on a theme of memories and he said that we were all making memories today.  I was very happy to see some grown-up folding chairs because I thought if I had to sit in a kindergarten chair, I was going to have a very hard time getting up.

Our assignment was to fill in a little booklet comparing our time in kindergarten with Henry’s time—focusing on snacks, favorite activities, places to visit, TV shows. Henry really enjoyed filling in each page with Jim and me trying our best to remember so long ago!  There was no scheduled time to show the toy we were asked to bring along, but Jim took Henry aside to a place where there was enough room and demonstrated the yo-yo we had purchased from Amazon a week or so ago.

We stopped at the Conway estate on our way home for a bathroom break and a sandwich.  We were able to greet Jasper who is home from college and a very successful first semester.  The trip home was much less stressful.  I found the December 14 broadcast of “With Heart and Voice” on my phone and we listened to lovely Advent music all the way home.

With my walker and cane, it was not easy to get to places and find my way in crowded rooms, but with Jim’s help, I did it and was so glad we could see Henry in his environment.  I do think we were the oldest grandparents there with my giving birth to Laura at age 32 and Laura giving birth to Henry at age 42.