Foreign Roses

I received a few gifts from some of the kids in kindergarten on those last couple of days.  The look on their faces is "gift" in itself...as they bring their gift to me with the biggest smile on their face.  I like to let them open it for me....because really that's what they want to do. 


One thing I received was a small hanging basket with a pink rose bush in it.  A tee tiny rose bush.  Would that be a bush?  Or a plant? 


The boy that gave it to me was so proud of it, and kept explaining it to me.

Him:  It's roses.

Me:  I see that!  They're so pretty.

Him:  They're pink.

Me:  I love them!

Him:  They're foreign.

Me:  Foreign?

Him:  Uh....I mean fornen.

Me:  Fornen?

Him:  Forny.

Me:  Forny?

Him:  Yeah....see?  (As he points to the thorns.)

Me:  Yes, they are!  I better be careful.

It was all I could do not to squeeze him tight.  So proud of that little plant.  That foreign little plant.  So fornen.  Yet so forny.


And speaking of pretty plants....I received a basket of flowers from one of the moms at our school on the last day.

This mom gives a lot of her time to our school and there seems to be no end to her energy or generosity.  This mom takes all of our lost and found jackets and coats home and washes and dries them and brings them back to school on hangers to hang on a special hanging cart that her carpenter husband made. 

Do you know why she does this?

Because she knows the kids won't look through a pile of jackets but maybe they will find their lost items if they're hanging.  How thoughtful is that?  I don't even begin to think like that.  But she does.


She is a blessing to that school and one little regret I have about leaving is that her second son is coming to kindergarten next year.  I know he will do great, but I sure would have liked to get to know him...as I have watched him grow the last 4 years as he tagged along up to the school with his mama.

She will never fully know how much that gesture of finding me in the hall on that last day to give me a basket of fresh flowers made me feel.  Thanks Tori!