My Little Mini-Me's

I'll turn them into social workers yet. Or at the very least, people who realize that the world doesn't end at the end of their street.

Today I got to bring the kids along on a school project. Long story short, the whole class was helping with the group project of one part of the class, which involved doing a community survey at a housing project near the school. I've been there before, even done projects there before, but it was the first time for me to bring the girls. I wasn't entirely sure how they'd handle it, since they've never really been in an inner-city-type setting. But we got there a little earlier than our scheduled clean-up time, and the survey and food area was set up outside. As soon as they laid eyes on the playground they were begging to go, and I figured it was for the best - it would keep them happily occupied, and me able to help take tickets and serve barbecue to the survey-taking residents. It's what happened when we were done serving and cleaning up, and everyone was getting ready to go, that my daughters surprised me yet again.

"Mommy do we have to go right now? Can't we stay and play a while?"

We stayed about an hour. I sat down on a concrete bench nearer to the playground, in between one woman who was either the parent or the aunt of some of the kids, and another who I don't think was related to anyone there at all - just one of the unattached adults that lives there and is a de facto grandmother for whoever happens to be around. My girls played with abandon, games of freeze-tag and chase, climbing ropes and sliding down slides, while two little boys took turns playing with my hair, trying like anything to braid the slippery strands. I gave away three of my coveted troop-support rubber bracelets, keeping only the one from the Army Ten-Miler, the one "Sgt. Mark" gave to Miah (too big for her tiny wrists) just before he left for Kosovo, and my metal cuff dedicated to the same Sgt. Mark. And of course, I kept my social work bracelet too. The others made their way around the wrists of several little boys, I think, before they settled on their final owners. Heaven only knows what their mothers will think, when they come home with "Army of One" and "Life, Liberty, Freedom" dangling from their arms. But I was in no position to turn down all those big brown eyes, smiling up at me as they hugged my waist. Me, a total stranger, just one of a group that came to ask some questions and give them lunch for their trouble.

And my girls, who never once thought about differences or neighborhoods or skin color - who just knew that they were having fun, playing with a bunch of new kids, and they just didn't want to go. You know what my favorite part is, of having these kids? These particular kids? All the things they have to teach me, and to teach the rest of the world. Keep an eye open in years to come. I think I birthed some movers and shakers.