The Lion Sleeps Tonight

R is going to a sleepover. Sleepovers generally make me weepy and nostalgic.

R's not going to just any slumber party. She is going to one at her school. With her 1st Grade teacher and three of her pals. She will watch a movie and eat a sundae and sleep on the floor in her centuries old school with her awesome teacher. The countdown to today is finally over, and not a minute too soon, as the excitement was nearly killing me too, too exciting.

She has packed everything on the list: jammies, sleeping bag, clothes for tomorrow, toothbrush, blankie, flashlight (no batteries, so useless) but not a wash cloth as instructed. (Does a napkin count as a wash cloth? A dish rag? Do people really use wash cloths? Anyhoo, no wash cloth for her, which is probably AOK since clearly she would not know what to do with one. I will, however, make her wash her hands before leaving the house because I am that. kinda. mom. A good one with no wash cloths.)

R will turn 7 in two weeks. She learned to ride a bike without training wheels when she was four, with no help, because her older sister had just learned and she was not going to let her be the only one to have the fun. She is missing three teeth, two of which she knocked out by mistake. Her knees are a maze of bumpy scars. She has strained ligaments in her arms from throwing too many balls and hitting too many pucks. The secretary keeps a stash of extra clothes at school for her because she has torn her own on the play ground so many times. It takes her approximately 3.2 seconds to brush her hair. She will soon look like Jason Castro but right now, she looks mostly like a scruffy baby lion. She wants an electric guitar for her birthday. I would get her a Fender if I could.

R is going to a sleepover at her school tonight, a creaky ancient old school with drafty windows and faulty plumbing that has housed the children of this old town for generations. It has surely seen the likes of her before. But I haven't. I have never ever seen the likes of her.

And I won't see her again until tomorrow at 8am. Sob.