:: Thursday, March 29, 2001 ::

 

10:01 p.m. One of my favorite guys was over today, and I was able to snap this photo of him as we were talking. He's just recently had a haircut, and he's looking quite spiffy, if I may say so. Super clean and alert ... and he has the best manners.

Lots of stuff going on, busy day. Early in the morning, some residents of our neighborhood turned out for a planning board meeting to discuss the pros and cons of expanding a nursery school that's next door to us. It was a chance to snap a few more photos, meet some more neighbors, and put faces to some of the children's voices I hear every day.

I don't know how things will end up because there are many forms to fill out, bridges to cross, plans to create. That sort of thing. Abstractions. But real little kids are dropped off each morning by real parents and those parents expect to pick up a happy, cared-for child at the end of the day.

I still wonder, if my kids were babies in 2001, if I'd be willing to drop them off before their fifth birthday. I do remember being very happy that I didn't have to make such a decision back in the early '70s because we lived in a neighborhood full to the brim with kids.

Every day was a playday at someone's house. Mothers had the interesting choice of staying home and doing whatever it was we were doing, if we wanted to. And believe me, we wanted to.

These days, I don't think many of the parents in our community feel they have a choice. They work, both of them, and they work long hours. I feel very sad about that. I hear the kids playing next door and I hear the teachers taking care of them and the thing that makes me sad is that the teachers have to be fair.

No one kid is the best, the most special, the most beautiful -- or the smartest kid on the planet. Not a single one. It isn't possible, either politically or prudently. Everyone gets a turn. Each voice is important, but not more important than any other. There can't ever be a princess or a king.

It just seems as if the time for sharing has come very quickly for those kids next door. Too quickly.

These days, every dog isn't going to have his day.