May 15, 2000
CYBERCOLUMN:
Love overwhelms the sorrow
___By Brett Younger
___ It's been a year since I attended my son Caleb's pre-kindergarten graduation exercises at Lake Shore Baptist's Children's Center. The graduates sang a rousing rendition of "We're on Our Way to Kindergarten." Mrs. Ayres gave out the "Certificates of Completion." (They went in alphabetical order; Youngers learn to be patient.) We ate cupcakes and cookies and stepped out into the bright light of the post pre-kindergarten world.
___ I enjoyed graduation, but the real rite of passage took place earlier that morning in the pastor's study at 8:05. Almost three years earlier, Caleb began attending the Children's Center two mornings a week. On his first day Caleb was apprehensive, so we took three books from home ("Spot Counts from 1 to 10," "But Not the Hippopotamus" and "The Runaway Bunny") to read before going downstairs to the Children's Center. The next day, we read the same three books. We kept them on my shelf but soon decided to pick a book from the church library each day. We quickly had a full-blown ritual.
BRETT YOUNGER
___ Over three years, we read together in my office over 300 mornings. We learned about nature--"Our Yard is Full of Birds." We read books with noises, "The Very Quiet Cricket," and blinking lights, "The Very Lonely Firefly." We made friends with Corduroy, Babar, Chrysanthemum, and Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge. We introduced discussions on the family with "Daddy Makes the Best Spaghetti" (my favorite) and dealt with social issues like prejudice, "Frog and Toad Together," and war and peace, "The Butter Battle Book." We tackled theology with "God Made it All," "Carol Beth Learns about Following Jesus" and "When I Talk to God."
___ As we opened the front door on our last day of pre-kindergarten, I said, "Caleb, this is the last morning we'll read a book before going downstairs, so pick a good one." He thought about it for a long time. I thought he would choose a recent favorite--"The Little Baby Snoogle Fleejer," "The Cowboy and the Black-eyed Pea," or "The Giant Jam Sandwich." Instead ,my suddenly very grown up soon-to-be-kindergartner said, "Let's read the old ones."
___ It may have been the last time that I hear "Spot Counts from 1 to 10." We counted one cow chewing, two horses trotting and three ducks swimming. We squealed with four piglets squealing, clucked at five chickens clucking, and when 10 bees buzzed, we shut the book fast before any could escape.
___ We read "But Not the Hippopotamus" in unison. We reminisced with the hog and the frog cavorting in the bog, the cat and two rats trying on hats, the moose and the goose who together have juice, and the bear and the hare who went to the fair. When the animal pack came running on back saying, "Hey, come join the lot of us" and "She just didn't know. Should she stay? Should she go?" We shouted joyfully "But, yes, the hippopotamus!" and feigned tears on "But not the armadillo."
___ It was "The Runaway Bunny," not normally thought of as a tearjerker, that got to me. The little bunny (just like, I imagine, every pre-kindergarten graduate) feels a need to put some distance between him and his parents. His mother keeps saying: "If you run away, I will run after you. You are my little bunny." If he becomes a fish, she will be a fisherman. If he becomes a rock on the mountain, she will be a mountain climber. If he becomes a bird, she will be a tree to which he comes home. By the time we read that if he became a little boy, she would be his mother and catch him in her arms and hug him, I was telling Caleb that my allergies were acting up.
___ I think about last year's graduation as I open the graduation announcements that fill our mailbox. Lots of people tearfully celebrate graduations this time of year. Some graduations may be even more momentous than pre-kindergarten. In our mushiest moments, we know that the love we know overwhelms all the sorrow we feel.
___ Brett Younger is pastor of Lake Shore Baptist Church in Waco.
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