I was helping out in Emma's classroom today. I love doing that, I'd go in twice a week if I could, it's just hard to juggle schedules. So, I remember when I was in high school and elementary school having fire drills (always on the last day of the month - they have to do them once a month) and earthquake drills. You know, the ones where you sit underneath your desk in case the whole school collapses around you? Because somehow that sturdy, sturdy desk will save your life.
Today they had a "lock down" drill. I did several of these while I was teaching. We'd have some sort of a code word that would come over the intercom and would tell us teachers to lock our doors, hide kids from the windows and make note of any students using the restroom.
We did one at Emma's school today. And I thought, what a sad commentary. Schools all over the country are doing these drills in the hopes of saving some lives the next time a psycho comes running into a school with a gun. Emma's teacher was great, she kept the kids really calm and was like, "Is this real?"
"No" they would whisper back and they all got to sit against the wall underneath the coats, kind of a fun distraction from their day.
It's so hard to send your child off to someone else's care for 6 and a half hours a day. I remember as a teacher when we had a fair sized earthquake in the Seattle area, the enormity of the responsibility that I had to the kids in my care. I have been fortunate enough to love my daughter's teachers thus far. I hope it continues. Because there are days when I look at the world and am in awe of the loveliness and days like today when I'm in shock at what we're capable of doing to one another.
Next post will be something happy, I promise. Maybe some more moose pics...
