She sits small and calm beside grown up feet. Thumb in mouth, small hand twirling in shining hair, watching, as one by one they step up and take their place.
Twice she turns around, waves, smiles, then her eyes return to the front, to her teacher, to her friends. And she waits.
I am waiting too. Knotted, buzzy, dry mouthed, nervous excitement pushing the minutes by so that I barely notice them. Songs go unnoticed too, though at times I find myself mouthing familiar words to familiar tunes. I daren’t cough, daren’t blow my nose for fear of some other Mummy missing their child’s moment.
And then it comes.
A fumble of feet. A crumpling of card hard gripped. A small line of tiny children.
And then;
“Thank you for my Mum.”
“Thank you for the teachers who look after us.”
“Thank you for making my Granny better.”
“Thank you for the food we have to eat”.
And…
Miss M: ”Thank you God for all the flowers.”
Clear, sweet, perfect. I smile away a tear. The nerves are gone, the knots undone and smoothed. The buzz remains but it is a happy one, a joyous building released by a smile, then built again as the final hymn begins and she turns and shares an ‘I did it’ grin.
And once more I find myself mouthing the words to a familiar melody, not really aware, until I hear my Mum beside me, years in the church choir giving her the quiet confidence to sing,
Granny: ”…hair -eeee bolllll-ocks…”
HAIRY BOLL*CKS!
What?
I glance at the hymn numbers then down to the page of the book we are sharing and my eyes alight on the word ‘monarchs’.
Boll*cks/Monarchs
You can see how that could happen right?? Especially when you are very snotty and sinus-y and therefore slightly deaf. The annoying thing is I can’t remember what word it was that made me get the ‘hairy’ as well as the’boll*cks’.
Fairy monarchs?
Scary monarchs?
Merrrr -eeee monarchs??
I have no idea! I’ve left a message on my Mum’s mobile, so the answer may soon be revealed, but please please, if there’s anyone out their who has any idea what song allowed my befuddled brain to conjure up such inappropriate lyrics I would dearly love to know, otherwise the cherished moment of my small 5 year old’s public speaking debut may be sullied forever.
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April 29th, 2010 at 6:48 am
HAH HAH HAH HAH!!!!!
You may be going to hell, but you’ll have a laugh on the way…. ;o)
April 29th, 2010 at 10:58 am
Hee hee, I hope so Jay.
April 29th, 2010 at 6:56 am
Hahaha. I think God has a sense of humour so you may be let off that one. I hope so cos I recently wrote instructions on how to ahem ’self-love’ and I thought I was going to hell for that one too.
http://www.vegemitevix.com/2010/04/10/how-to-self-love/ but still here!
April 29th, 2010 at 7:46 am
Love it! And your picture is especially choice…..
April 29th, 2010 at 10:59 am
It’s amazing what pictures pop up when you put the word ‘hairy’ in at stockxchange. MWah ha ha haaaaa.
April 29th, 2010 at 9:16 am
What you got against hairy bollocks?!!
April 29th, 2010 at 11:00 am
Heh heh, they just don’t go with Miss M lovely. Hope you’re ok. x
April 29th, 2010 at 9:37 am
Ooh that picture is a bit ouchy xx
April 29th, 2010 at 11:01 am
Snort, isn’t it? I couldn’t resist.
April 29th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Have you found out what it is yet? I’m very curious.
Love your description of the run up to her big moment.
April 29th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Thanks lovely, and no I don’t know what it is yet. My Mum is on the job though fingers crossed.
April 30th, 2010 at 5:54 am
On tenterhooks. Or whatever they’re called. Hope you find the answer.
April 30th, 2010 at 6:10 am
I think the line is “…earthly monarcs” but I like yours better!
The hymn could well be “All Hail To Thee, Immanuel” but my religion is way rusty. I think it might be on “Now That’s What I call Hymn Music Volume 9″
April 30th, 2010 at 6:11 am
Oh.. and the Monarchs typo is a nice touch /sigh
April 30th, 2010 at 11:22 am
Are they anything to do with the Northern Conquerors?
(Make us more than conquerors… is the real line.)
Looking forward to hearing the answer.
May 2nd, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Josephine Beaufoix! You absolutely definitely have your room booked at ‘The Hot Place’.
Tsk.
xx