This large party, which is bejewelled with a bouncing castle, a big, inflatable obstacle course that leads to a huge inflatable slide, a "train" ride, face painting, juice, goldfish, and pizza - is to mark the end of the preschool year.
All of the preschoolers and parents converge on the school to say goodbye for the summer.
The husband and wife feel the excitement in their son. It has travelled through his veins and jumped into theirs. They're happy he's happy. Their younger daughter, however, is a little bit more leery of the sheer number of people and amusements. She thinks it's a trap of some sort.
At two, she's already a little hardened. By what? Her parents are not sure. So, she's content to cling to either one of them. They hand her off at regular intervals. The time it takes for their arms to feel as though they are made of lead from the weight of their youngest is all of about 15-25 minutes. And holding something that heavy, in one position can make her feel like dead weight and make the time she spends in their arms seem infinite.
They look around and smile politely at the strangers. The strangers whose own children have shared an entire school year with their youngest. And little more than hello has been said all year. So, it was unlikely that little more than that would pass between them on the very last day. And really, it was OK by them all.
The oldest child of the couple had already flown. He was not about to subject himself to the awkward hello's and pleasantries. He has social issues of his own. And quite frankly, was more than happy to be an anonymous face in the crowd while he waited in line for one of the various inflatable amusements. Life doesn't get much better than this, when you're 4 and 3/4 years old.
The husband and wife team were counting down minutes for this to be over. It's not that they were having a bad time. It's just that there isn't a lot for them to do at these things. And seeing the cars in the parking lot, the clothing some of the mothers were wearing, it was quite obvious that this was not their usual crowd. They were, to be brutally honest, a bit out of their element.
The wife looks over at the husband, thinking how smoking hot he looks. She smiles a kind, warm, loving smile and says to him:
Did you ever get the feeling that in a loaf of white bread, we're a slice of marble rye?
And he chuckles. He knows exactly what she's saying. He couldn't agree more, actually.
5 ripples in the pond:
How did we not run into each other at the affair? Your account sounds just like the Spring Fling at preschool. Can I be a slice out of your loaf? How can preschool parents be so alienating?
Liv - I wish I had known you were there :)
It really is so sad how "pocketed" the whole affair felt at times. It was very strange at some points.
You can be a slice out of my loaf any old day :)
Ah, well. Different is good.
And I'm thinking of Seinfeld when you talk about marble rye :)
oh been there! add to the mix a child who has told everyone who will listen about your oddest and most embarassing habits, but you don't even know which ones...
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