While yesterday's event at Christ the King was billed as a "meet the teacher" day, it wound up featuring a different highlight. Last week I received a phone call from a lovely little girl named Claire Gordon. She informed me that she was going to be Clare's Guardian Angel at Christ the King, and that she was looking forward to meeting us at the event on Friday. I had no idea how old she was. I had a vague recollection of this Guardian Angel program involving fifth graders. She was so self-possessed on the phone, and genuinely friendly, that it seemed she must be older. Not so much. In fact, she's only in fourth grade! However, as far as Clare is concerned, she hung the moon. The introduction went down like this. At the opening of the event, the principal called each child up to meet his/her teacher, and they filed off to a classroom with them while we stayed behind for all the blah-blah-blah type stuff we tuition-paying parents better get accustomed to hearing. Approximately half an hour later, the children returned, led by their Guardian Angels. Clare was beaming. She held up a picture of her name that big Claire had colored for her, and couldn't wait to introduce me to Claire - who was also beaming. While the principal had already given us the low-down, I let both girls explain that Claire (thank heavens they spell their names differently, no?) was going to be Clare's buddy, showing her the ropes around CTK so that it wouldn't be such a strange, new and overwhelming place to be. Isn't this the best idea ever? (As an aside, Clare's buddy Max has two Guardian Angels, both boys, who looked, as his mother so eloquently put it, "shell-shocked" after meeting Max. So his experience might be a tad...different, shall we say.) Big Claire led Clare over to get a snack, and then proceeded to enthusiastically introduce her to all her fourth-grade buddies who wandered by. She happily showed them the picture that my little Clare had colored for her. I don't know what impressed me more, her maturity or her genuineness. If this is the kind of person that CTK is helping to nurture, then our money is going to be very well spent indeed. Not surprisingly, Claire was the topic of Clare's conversation all day.
