roses!

so, the aforementioned kindergartener, the one who planned his birthday party at the tar pits and whom i will call "jack" for fear of discussing his real identity online, did in fact have his party at the museum and it was way more insanely adorable than i imagined it would be.  when he got to the museum, a little before his extravaganza started, he raced immediately to the window of the lab where i was working and screamed "miss sarah!" so loudly that i could hear him perfectly through the soundproof glass.  then, once the rest of the party showed up, i discovered that half the class had been invited and they were all suffering very conflicted emotions; namely, that although they thought i was awesome for wearing a lab coat and cleaning bones, they felt like they were in another, terrible dimension where teachers actually have lives outside school, a discovery i remember as being very, very traumatic.  it was great, though, because while they were much, much more quiet and weird around me in the non-school setting, they were all extremely interested and asked lots of great questions and, hopefully, learned a lot.

after cake in one of the museum's theaters, i invited "jack" into the lab so that he could experience first-hand all the cool stuff he could only look at in the museum and in all his books. he was super nervous and super cute and looked around the whole time quietly as if he were dreaming.  it was like he was completely in awe.  he was finally inside the la brea tar pits laboratory!  (either that, or he was way exhausted.)  i had spent the day detailing a thoracic vertebra from the big mammoth find and, after i showed it to him, i let him touch it - which he did with the thought and care you might think someone would use when being allowed to touch the holy grail (especially after we all told him he was the first six-year-old ever to do it).  i mean, it's possible that i only think it was life-changing for him, but i get the feeling that it really was overwhelming awesome for him.  and that makes me very pleased with myself.

this afternoon, his mom stopped me as i was leaving and told me she had something for me, which i assumed were copies of some pictures we took together during the party.  her gift, however, was a bouquet of completely gorgeous roses as a thank-you for participating in his party.  

it was so incredibly thoughtful and amazing and it really made my day, most especially because i'd been totally yelled at this morning by a mother i don't know for something i wasn't responsible for.

she gave me the flowers hours ago and i'm still excited about them.  and, i think i'm really very happy i was able to make such a huge impression on him and his family.  it proves to me that perhaps teaching might truly be in the cards for me.

and, hilariously enough, this six-year-old has now become the first boy in the history of my life to give me an actual bouquet of flowers.