I am always amazed when I sort of "wake up" and realize that I'm a grown up. That sounds awful, I'm sure.. but there are a few things in life that happen to me and I just don't bounce back quite as quickly as I used to. Really simple things can be a huge barrier. For example..... this FEVER has knocked me FLAT! I've been in bed all weekend and have been totally unproductive. Fevers are no fun for kids either, of course, but as an adult, it really took the wind out of my sails. Falling down after tripping on something in the yard is totally another scenario that is hard to describe. The results of me falling down as an adult tend to not only be emotionally startling, but my muscles remember it for days. Thankfully, it's hard to fall down when in bed with a fever, so I can count my blessings on that front, I suppose.
So, as a result, I haven't posted the follow up on the PURPLE situation.
Well, you won't believe it, but my beautiful purple 6th grader was "honored" (her words) to have been recognized at the pep rally among about thirty other really outlandishly dressed purple middle school people as "Most Sprited"! From this amazing assortment of purple beehive hairdos, painted faces, tutus and boas, three were chosen as the top winners. I don't know that I could have chosen the winners from that bunch. They were all magnificent. It was truly wonderful for this to happen to Sweet Sarah.... especially because when her dad was dropping her off at school that morning she had slightly cold feet. There was apparently a scarcity of purple-ness at the time of the drop off and she was nervous. After seeing someone dressed as a large purple chicken, she felt more comfortable though.
I surprised the Littles that day and checked them out of school early to take them to the pep rally... Yes, despite my fever. It seemed to be a good idea at the time. The Littles and I dressed up in purple from head to toe and we headed into the gymnasium. It was absolutely wonderful to be there among all of the middle schoolers... and there were a lot of them. This all reminded me of just one of the many reasons why I truly loved working in the schools. And, I did have a fairly major flashback of my cheerleader days (don't tell anyone about that) and how exciting it all was to be there leading chants in front of crazed students.
It was purple everywhere. There were cheerleaders dancing and cheering and bouncing around, loud music by the school band, a student/faculty basketball game, students playing dance music over the speakers, screaming contests among the grades, chanting and cheering, introductions of the athletes, and other general mayhem. The big wrap up was an enormous 8th grade conga line around the gym, a rousing school wide singing and dancing of "YMCA" by the Village People with the motions, and an 8th grade and faculty Cupid Shuffle on the gym floor.
What fun!.... even with a fever. And if you are wondering, yes, I danced to the YMCA song.