Not so many of us are here at 8:30. Just enough for a gentle but lively start to the day. But when I retreat to the office to pick up some tasks from the day before, or tackle some new ones, there is Dana playing magically on the piano. Kyle, Hanna and Zach being charming in the dance room quiet room. Greer working on a painting while Sarah explores outdoors. The energy of Rowan getting all of his “classmates” into some new thing. Cannon getting used to it being morning and him being independent. Kemper delving into something.
Celia, Kali and Owen arrive. Owen retires to his computer, where he is soon surrounded by other kids, with or without their own devices, playing and studying. His sisters are doing everything active in the entire world: building houses in the sand, playing with their “babies,” or riding rollerblades, bikes, and scooters with an assortment of other kids.
Soon, Harriet, Nia and Pru come sweetly along to say hello, admiring one another’s clothing combinations and creativity. Lev and Teddy start off a day full of laughing, running, and playing games. Victoria softly begins her day. Isabella makes every room she walks into jump into awareness. Cori wanders into the office to find her Greek books and start puzzling over the beginnings of learning a very foreign language. Cami is studying Japanese, in costume, always in costume! And the piano is still a lovely counterpoint to it all.
As it gets into the 9-9:30 time, the school starts to form itself into the day. There are groups of kids everywhere. Some are still fairly quiet because they’re in “morning mode,” but many are already as lively as can be. Everyone is either completely engaged in what they are doing or mostly engaged and waiting for another friend or two to come along and join in.
By 10:30 the kitchen is abuzz with a cooking project. The art room is almost a cauldron of activity. Xavier is gamboling across the campus seemingly unfettered by gravity. And, the numbers of people reading, studying, playing every game imaginable it seems, outdoors and in, have proliferated into a full and beautiful school.
Life is good here.