Kids on the Ranch

Today we had nine kids, seven of them boys, from my old school, come up to our ranch for a long day. In previous years we have had as many as fifteen kids for three or four days, but this time it was not to be. They arrived in the late morning, vans full of excited kids. Three of the kids would stay overnight with their parents in the guest house, and all the rest would leave at eight in the evening.

Going to Molly's ranch has been an annual tradition, some say maybe the best field trip of all. Here they have the freedom to be outdoors, choose what they want to do from the cornucopia of physical, social, and artistic offerings. Today, many kids wanted to make sculptures from found materials. We had many glue guns available and an entire set of drawers of very old 'stuff', sort of hardware and nuts and bolts and odd metal things. We had small pieces of wood for bases. The kids pulled out the drawers and discovered many things and shapes and textures. Their creations are worthy of a museum exhibition.

We went on a truck ride around the property, the kids bouncing around in the truck bed and dodging overhanging branches and screaming with delight at every pothole. We stopped to pump a pitcher pump that barely worked. (we needed to come back for that since the cows had knocked over the priming water can.) We stopped at the mulberry trees so the kids could pick the ripe ones . Their faces were stained red with delight.

We had lunch of 'build your own sandwiches', and then it was on to volleyball and archeology-digging in a distant very hot and sweaty mound of lime rock to find Indian artifacts. The kids found amazing spear points, chert shards, and hand axes. They persevered and were focused way past what I would have thought. We had to make them stop! I was worried that they would get sunstroke.

Some kids were enthralled with being in the fabric studio and both boys and girls made pillows and other things. From time to time, I checked in on them and helped them sew up seams on the sewing machine. Other kids were still making their sculptures. Life was humming. Up at the main house Andy was preparing pizzas for supper with a few kids who wanted to participate. He is great at helping kids learn the ropes of cooking. I can't look; he lets kids use incredibly sharp knives and cut onions. He speaks to them as if they were just reasonable people and perfectly competent. They love this and respond.

We spend an hour or so with everyone in the swimming pool leaping from the jacuzzi into the pool, howling with delight. Many of the kids come and whisper to tell me often how much they love being here, and of course, it is music to my ears.

These kids are my heart's delight! I have known them since they were toddlers, and they know I am still interested in them. They are the last group I have known, so it is indeed bittersweet. But I also know that I am no longer interested in or able to deal with ten year olds on a daily basis; I need my own space and time after teaching for so many years. My energy is now going to other things.

These kids who were here today know that they will always be welcome here. They thanked Andy and me over and over for their day here. ( aw shucks..) Many others, older, come back here and keep in touch by email. They know they are always welcome here. They know we will always be supportive and helpful as they begin their adult lives.

This will not be true for my Lacoochee kids! However much I love them and care what happens in their lives, however bright some child might be, their parents will not be able to respond. Of course I would love to have them be a part of the line of many kids who have been my students and then become young adults we have mentored and funded and cared for. But I fear that the gulf is too wide and deep. Few of their parents will touch in to ask anything of their teacher, let alone to thank me, a volunteer, for the interesting activities I have given their kids, or just to say, "Hi". They have no clue. Public school teaching, generally, is a hard scrabble life.