I Am A Child

This week marked my 11th anniversary at NSBA, amazing considering that I never worked in one job for more than 5 years prior to that. For some reason, it made me think back to our time in Rockingham County, N.C. – that period when our kids were little and just getting ready for work each day was an adventure. One morning, waiting to turn on to NC 14 after leaving our house on a particularly trying morning, this came to me fully formed. By the end of my 10 mile drive to my office, I could not wait to get inside, hoping that it would not leave my brain before I could write it down. It didn't, fortunately, and in scrounging through files today, I found it again. The words still apply...

I am a child.

I will push you (and sometimes my friends, too)

Poke you.

Prod you.

Run laps around you,

And sometimes through your legs.

If I want it bad enough, I’ll even beg.

I am a child.

I will laugh with you, and sometimes at you.

I will smile and giggle, too.

I am a child.

I will sing and act.

I’ll negotiate a bedtime story

With a sports agent’s savvy

And threaten a holdout if I don’t get my way.

But if you take some time, eventually I will settle down and pray.

I am a child.

It’s an innocent look.

I’ll never plead guilty to making a mess.

I was just playing, I guess.

I am a child.

I will inspire you.

Believe in you.

Sneeze, drip and cough on you.

Hug, kiss and hold onto you.

Never stop asking you why

Even when I cry.

I am a child.

I’ll refuse a home-cooked meal

And ask for spaghettios.

Look in my bowl and ask, “What are those?”

I am a child.

It is my job to test you,

And not in the standardized ways.

But every night and every day.

I am a child.

I will teach you.

Will you teach me, too?