The Po Show

Special Person Day

Last Thursday was Special Person Day at Tessa's school. On this day, the kids are supposed to bring an adult who is special to them. Most bring in a grandparent, or aunt or uncle, or occasionally the child's dad will come in (since it's almost exclusively stay at home moms bringing the kids to school each and every day). Tessa has a pair of twins in her class and both of their parents came in, which was special since their nanny brings them to school everyday.

Tessa brought me. Boring old Mommy. Hardly special, since I drop her off and pick her up every single school day. I felt terrible that we have no special people here in our lives, no family members, no really close family friends that the kids think of as family. We are this little nuclear, isolated family. There was no one to be Tessa's Special Person. Even Ross couldn't come, since he didn't have any vacation days free to take the day off. I was constantly apologizing for being there, for being unable to furnish my child with a Special Person.

Of course Tessa didn't care. She was happy to have me there, happy that I stayed to play with her at school rather than rushing off to do my usual myriad of errands. What I usually do during the two and half hours she is at school, three days a week. She didn't realize that she didn't have what the other kids had, an outer circle of people in her life who are important.

They are there, the grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and family friends, and they all love her dearly. But they aren't HERE. They are far away, across the country, and might as well be on the moon. Tessa writes letters to Grandma and Grandpa everyday, scribbles on paper, sometimes with darling drawings. She asks for envelopes and stamps to mail them. She wants to keep in touch with her Special People.

It really hurts me that it has to be pretend play.