Sheila Sims Iding
It happened before I knew it. It even caught me off guard. I had prepared. I had monitored. I had paid attention to details. I had planned for the “specialness” of this day. It’s the last day of the month so we would take our money to the poor bank in church. And…tomorrow is May 1st and we start our devotion to Mary by praying a decade of the Rosary every day. Today was earmarked for “Poor Bank Day” and “Rosary Day”. What I didn’t expect and what caught me by surprise was the happening of another “day” in paradise.
Today was also “Butterfly Day”! A butterfly hatched before the kids arrived this morning. But even more, in an attempt to catch me off guard, it hatched in the 15 minutes I was out of the room outside helping with the morning carline. I glanced at the butterfly house and all the chrysalis’ before heading outside. When I came back 15 minutes later I was greeted with shrieks, little scientists jumping and TWO butterflies! What a way to start yet another day in paradise.
We did have “Poor Bank Day” in the early afternoon where we took our money from our “poor bank” to the St. Vincent de Paul poor box in church. But it wasn’t an ordinary “take-the-money” day. There was so much money in the poor bank this month we couldn’t carry it in our hands. We couldn’t carry it in twenty-two pairs of hands. We had to empty it into little paper cups to take it to church. WOW! That bank was full to the brim…and so are their generous Christian hearts.
We did have “Rosary Day” at the end of the day. Actually, we had Rosary Day all day long as they kept asking “When do we get our Rosaries?”. “How much longer?”, “Is it almost time?”. Even walking back from our “poor bank” trip to church, they were talking about it. One little guy was so excited because he never had a rosary before. He couldn’t wait.
There was definitely excitement in the air for receiving their “new” Rosary. I have to admit…I was excited for them too. These “new” Rosaries aren’t anything special…well…all Rosaries are special. But these are the “free” ones that come in the mail. People drop them off in the office and I collect them during the school year and in the summer when they are on the “free” counter in the office. This year I had 23 Rosaries for 20 kids. So they would each get a choice…or some sort of choice. We would draw sticks for the pecking order of picking Rosaries.
At a team meeting right before getting our Rosaries, we talked a little bit about the Rosary, the decades, the mysteries, the prayer service we would have each day in May. No details really. Just some of the basic facts. We have a whole month to learn the details. But at the end of the team meeting I asked them three things:
1. Do not wear the Rosary as a necklace. They are prayer beads…not jewelry.
2. Treat it with respect and be responsible for your own Rosary. If you lose it then you lose it and there isn’t another one.
3. Do not be disappointed. 20 people will be picking Rosaries and you will probably not get the one you really want.
I drew four sticks at a time and group by group they came up. They chose carefully. It’s one of my favorite things each year to watch them choose. The red or the blue? My favorite color or the one that is shiny? The wooden one or the bigger one? Blue for Mary? Or the pearl one like my mom’s? I love being privy to these conversations…usually with themselves.
As the last group of four came forward they honored my request of not being disappointment…but I could tell it wasn’t easy. The blue ones were gone and so were the pearl ones. Only black ones and wooden ones were left but they gently picked one and went back to their desks to “explore” their new Rosary. That is when the magic of Rosary Day unfolds. Exploring the Rosary. That is when they fall in love with their very own Rosary.
I just sit there…and they come pouring up to me.
“Mine has St. Therese on the medal part.”
“Look! Did you see the crucifix on mine?” (It was really fancy.)
“Wow! Mine has Mary on both sides.”
“Mine has Mary holding a baby!” (That would be baby Jesus??)
The kindest one was: “Oh cool…you got one with different colored beads. That is sooooo pretty.”
And the best one of all from one of the last to choose one…”Mrs. Iding, I tried not to be disappointed but I was. I thought it was just a blackish Rosary but when I looked at it, Mary had stars all around her head!!!...It’s so beautiful!!”
As the exploration finished it was their job to put it carefully back in the little baggie and find a place in their desk for safe keeping. Since they are almost second graders now they get to pick the very spot they think will be safe. One hid it behind his supply box. One put it in the back of her desk. One put it on the pencil ledge on the side so he could see it each time he opened his desk. And…one knew right away where he was going to put it…right on his Religion book.
Once the Rosaries were safely put away in each desk, once our empty Poor Bank was back on the shelf by “Saintland”, and once we did a final observation and count of butterflies (4 new ones!), we were ready to end our day. We were ready to end yet another day in first grade…in paradise. Can’t wait until another day…tomorrow.