Oh I'm being eaten by a boa constrictor...

All week this week our elementary school is having a book fair, and I volunteered to help out this morning, the morning that Juliette's class was attending.

The last time I was at this elementary school book fair was when I was in elementary school.

It was a bit surreal, but it has changed since I was a young girl coveting all of those books. For one thing, it is in another location. For another, that new location is larger, so the selection is larger. And finally, I am older now, so the books I coveted this time around were not for me- but for my girls. And, you know, I am a grown up now, so if I want to buy the books I can buy the books. (Not that my parents ever restricted my access to books. I just wanted so many of them that it was impossible to keep up...)

In particular, I remember how badly I always wanted Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends. Many of my friends had it; I'd read it many times and could practically recite all the poems; and I wanted it so badly but never got it. If it had been there today, I think I would have bought it, but alas, it was not. That is quite a shame, I think.

I hadn't told Juliette that I would be there, so when she walked in and saw me, the biggest smile lit up her whole face- and she wouldn't let go of my hand, even when I was trying to write on her classmates wish list for them. I tried to be a good parent and steer them to the appropriate books, but at the end of the day I am not their parent, so I could only do so much. Juliette picked out two of her own books, one for her sister, and with the money left over she got a multi- ink color pen. Remember those? You would just click the lever and you would get a different ink color? I loved those when I was little, too, and Juliette thought it was just about the coolest thing ever.

As an aside, one of the other volunteers was another mother from Juliette's class, a woman I've seen a few times and although I cannot for the life of me remember her name, it is nice to feel that I am beginning to know more people in town.

Tonight, at home, Juliette told me that she was so sad to leave me when she got back to her classroom that she cried a little bit. That broke my heart- but still, it was worth it.

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Boa Constrictor
by Shel Silverstein

Oh, I'm being eaten
By a boa constrictor,
A boa constrictor,
A boa constrictor,
I'm being eaten by a boa constrictor,
And I don't like it--one bit.
Well, what do you know?
It's nibblin' my toe.
Oh, gee,
It's up to my knee.
Oh my,
It's up to my thigh.
Oh, fiddle,
It's up to my middle.
Oh, heck,
It's up to my neck.
Oh, dread,
It's upmmmmmmmmmmffffffffff . . .