Youngsters bring out my Best

This is the morning after graduation, which I will have to write about later.  So much to process, both mentally and emotionally.

We went out for our usual Saturday breakfast (I say the best pancakes in the county!), then had a couple errands to do across the intersection.
Upon learning that the UPS Store would not open for another 35 minutes, we wandered across the shopping plaza to the bookstore.
While Husband browsed in the Clearance and Discount section, I went over to the rack which holds the bookmarks.  It sits in a corner I rarely visit.

One placeholder caught my eye.  It was oddly shaped, made of metal, with a hole through which a pink ribbon was knotted.
Money amount $4.95 as in FIVE Dollars!
Well, I can crochet a dozen markers from one ball of thread, the price of which is only $1.89 at Michael’s Craft Store.
However, the ones I work up cannot be printed with such a nice quote, so appropriate this morning after I walked across the stage with a funny hat on my head.

It is never too late to be what you might have been. —George Eliot

After the door was unlocked, over in the UPS Store, while Husband was doing all the labels and paperwork for our package, I struck up a conversation with two little boys who were waiting in the corner as instructed by their mother, a lady also busy with labels and paperwork.
So many times we teach our children to not talk to strangers, but they were sitting on the floor and I was leaning on a shelf, with many other folks milling around, so the atmosphere was pleasant enough.
Years of raising sons and their friends, being a daycare teacher, I know how to phrase a couple leading questions and get youngsters to talking.  The evil thought crossed my mind about perverts and being on guard.  Like I said, there were several customers and two clerks, this could be fun, and I really miss children with their open minds and attitude.

We discussed new shoes, and which logo was on the younger boy’s soles.  About being able to tie versus slip-ons or straps with velcro.  About age and going to Kindergarten after the summer.  When I said that my nephew would also be going to Kindergarten, one boy piped up that his mom has a nephew, who is also his cousin.  I explained that when they grow up and have children, their brother’s baby would be called a nephew.  They cannot imagine being grown up and having a child of their own.
Isn’t it cute how the connections have to be made?  Getting sense of the world.

The older boy showed me an almost healed mark on his leg and said that their friend’s dog had scratched him there.  And then I learned that their own dog is fine, but their cat is in heaven.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that my guy was almost ready to pay and be done in the store, so I told the boys that it had been nice to have this chat, but I had to see my husband now.  I will give them credit that they stayed seated, but they really did some neck stretching to see around the shelf where I had gone to.
Their mother had also completed her task, and as she passed, she turned and smiled at me and mouthed the words “Thank You” as she motioned to the boys that they could stand up and come with her.

Our last little errand was to get milk in a grocery store in the same plaza.  We got back to the car just as a woman was getting to hers.  She spoke up because it seems she also had been in the UPS Store, and she mentioned all about the shoes and the cat being in heaven.
She had thought the whole scene was adorable.

On the way home, Husband and I discussed this ability of mine, this gaining children’s trust.  The possibilities are open for me.  Writing novels aimed for children, or counselor for kids going through trauma or their parents’ divorce.  Awhile back, someone in my comments even suggested that I would be a natural as a Pediatric Nurse.

For right now, this minute, I need to slack some.
Maybe take a Saturday siesta.
What with Final Exams and commencement practice and wearing non-usual clothes,
this has been a hectic week.
~~love and Huggs, Diane