The Treasure Box...11 years in the making
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A few weeks ago, the challenge was to memorize their home phone numbers. The challenges are usually things that will benefit the children, and knowing one's home phone number is a good thing in case one finds him or herself lost in a shopping mall and crying to a policeman or policewoman. So as a diligent mother would, my sister spent the week teaching Franklin his phone number, and as an eager and baited 4-year-old, Franklin learned it so that he could get something from the treasure box, (albeit a 99cent trinket that probably would have ended up thrown into a corner of his playroom and broken before the weekend was over). Unfortunately, Mrs. Haltermann was not specific enough for my sister's taste, and little Franklin did not get to go to the treasure box because he did not recite his phone number to Mrs. Haltermann's standards. We found out after the fact, from the teary-eyed 4-year-old, the he was supposed to know his area code. While this probably makes sense to you New Yorkers, Augusta, Ga is a small area, and all the outlying suburbs of Augusta share the same -706- area code. My sister didn't 'assume' the teacher meant 'including' area code, so she didn't teach Franklin the area code. Poor little kiddo- his world fell apart that week when his friends went to the 'treasure box' and he did not. I hope this won't cost us hundreds of dollars in therapy 10 years down the road. I'm afraid it might, however, as I can recall never getting picked as most improved student of the week and thus earning a brand new box of shiny crayons from my second grade teacher, Mrs. Taylor. (Every week, I would act perfectly, hoping that Mrs. Taylor would notice me and give me the coveted award. Every week, IT would go to another child. I'd cry to mom weekly, and I think, finally, mom was tired of my whines and said something to Mrs. Taylor about it, and Mrs. Taylor explained to her and to me that the award was designed to encourage the rowdy kids to behave, and so she usually gave it to kids that were having a hard time settling down but that she could see were 'trying' their best. I was always a perfect angel in class, and so she didn't know I needed any encouragement. It made perfect sense to me after she explained that to me, and I remember she gave me a box of crayons when she explained it too. I felt so guilty then and ashamed that I'd wanted the affirmation. It made me feel self-absorbed...but alas, I am off subject...back to the 'Treasure Box').
So this week, my sister received an email that all students who come to class with some sort of interesting fact about the Lenten season will be allowed to take a trip to the 'Treasure Box.' This sent my sister into a frenzy of emailing me. Well, I guess that isn't really a frenzy. I suppose I was picturing her in a frenzy, but perhaps it was all in my head. The thing is, Franklin is enrolled in an Episcopal school, but my sister has not had much experience with Christian denominations outside the extremely conservative Independent Baptist church we grew up in for about 16 years and then the non-denominational church she goes to now. Many of the liturgical traditions are new to her, and she researches them to know more about them, so off the top of her head, all she knew about Lent is what she learned from seeing her friends in college give up pizza or coffee or walk around with black dots on their heads or get drunk the day before they put the ash dots on their heads. haha So FOR ONCE, I got to be the guru. Que the shiny spotlight on me.
In my family, I was always the musical, theatrical child. I was not the math and science child who was regarded as so highly intelligent. I mean, I made good grades, but the fact that I said really stupid things a lot (I think I get that from my mother) made me less likely to be the one you went to for math help. Then I went to college and studied Music and Christianity, and then I went to seminary to study World Religions and Missions and Cross-Cultural Evangelism. What did anyone in my family need to ask me about any of that? NOTHING. So my field of expertise or interests have rarely ever come up for dinner table conversation my entire life. I'm used to it, although it has left me with the slight scar of feeling that my family might think I'm dumb or feeling that I need to 'prove' myself, although they'd more than likely say that it's in my head and they do not think I do need to prove myself.
So my sister emailed me about the need for Lent facts, and I responded with a lot of stuff I knew about Lent, and she typed it all up into a word document that she will give to Franklin for him to take to school with him on Friday. This way he will have not only ONE but like SEVEN fun facts about Lent. That ought to earn him a trip to the dern 'Treasure Box.' If it doesn't, I told my sister to have Mrs. Haltermann email/call ME, AUNT MEGIN! haha
I suppose, in summary, my point is that 4 years of undergraduate work, 2 years or graduate work, and going on 5 years of post graduate work in the field of ministry has been worth it if it can accumulate in the production of a word document of 7 facts about Lent that will allow my 4-year-old nephew to pick a 99-cent-store toy out of a stupid plastic bin and for the rest of the day feel like he is on top of the world.
And that is why this entry is called The Treasure Box...11 years in the making.
4 + 2 + 5 = 1 trip to the Treasure Box
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