Bless me, Sister, For I Did Laaaaugh

My oldest niece is attending her first school. It is a private school and it is connected with the church that my sister and her family attend. As such, my niece was immediately comfortable with the idea of going there each day. She understood, however, that there would be a review by a board before she was allowed to attend.

Earlier this Summer, my sister explained this process to her daughter (as much as it makes sense to explain a "board review" to a child) in order to help soften the blow if the application was not accepted. My sister used words and phrases that her daughter would understand. It was difficult for my sister, a business executive, to avoid any language that would be lost on a four and a half year old, but she felt she had succeeded. The situation seemed to be understood by all.

Weeks passed and then, one happy day, my sister returned from the mailbox with a letter addressed to her daughter. It was from the board review, inviting her to begin her educational journey this Fall. My niece looked up at my sister and said "wow, so I'm in then?" and my sister said "of course you are, Hunny. You were a shoe-in." They went for ice cream to celebrate.

My sister and my niece went to the school office last week, prior to school starting, to turn in a few final bits of paperwork. My niece sat quietly in her seat, hands nicely in her lap (as my sister had coached her to do) and the administrator was impressed with her behavior. At the end of the process, she turned to my niece and said "Well my dear, were you surprised to learn you'd be going to school here?"

And my niece very politely responded, in the most grown-up voice her little body could muster, "oh not really. I was a shoe-in."