Pumpkin Festival

“I am so not ready to be a parent.”

The line above is a text message that I sent my roommate, Julie, at approximately 4:22pm on Saturday afternoon.  We were both spending the afternoon chaperoning the first Urban Compass field trip of the school year.   The field trip was to the Pumpkin Festival at the Kidspace Musuem in Pasadena. It was a giant outdoor festival with moonbounces, live music, crafts, games, pony rides, a petting zoo, and food trucks.  A sponsor made a donation so that each of our students received tickets to play games and get food in a special gift bag. Overall, the day was great for the kids! They had a blast getting their faces painted and dragging around the volunteer chaperones from game to game in the heat, which they hardly seemed to notice.  For me it was fun, but an interesting combination of stress, a glimpse into the “other” LA, and exhaustion.  On either end of the festival was a 12-passenger van experience that left me more than a little frazzled.  I had some issues parking upon arrival (I won’t go into details except to say I had to be rescued by Marcus, our part-time staffer).  Also, our failed caravan on the way home left me rambling through downtown Pasadena, which was beautiful but not exactly where anyone in the car wanted to be after a long day in the sun.  But we finally made it back to Watts safely, and after a quick spin through the projects to drop the kids off, I was home. 

At one point in the afternoon, one of my first graders and I got separated from the rest of our group, so we spent a solid hour together.  I took him to the petting zoo and moonbounces. (Petting zoos and I were not made to be friends, but that’s another story.) I watched as wealthy Pasadena parents who all looked so perfectly put together in their designer shorts and bags captured their toddlers enjoying the quintessential fall activities with their fancy cameras.  I watched as my first grader – who has more energy than any child I’ve ever met…times 10 – got some not-so-nice looks from parents whose children he pushed by in line for the slide or to pet the baby goat.  I, the maternal figure in the situation, in turn got some not-so-nice looks. But I didn’t really care…he was having fun. And while their children probably get to do nice things like pet baby goats whenever they so please, my little guy lives in the projects in Watts where most animals in the area are strays. But kids are kids and they don’t notice that stuff, so he was having a grand old time and was oblivious to the looks he was getting.  However, the whole day left me questioning how on Earth people keep up with their kids’ energy.  I only have them for 2.5 hours each day, and that alone wipes me out. Then again, I don’t plan on having 35 children, so I think I’ll be okay.

Later that evening we hosted the LA JV houses for a party to celebrate Zach’s completion of the LSAT. He took it Saturday morning and had been studying for many many hours a week (usually early in the morning – impressive!) so we were all happy for him to be finished.  On Sunday, John’s parents took us all out to eat for dinner since they were in town to visit him and our lovely home.  I spent most of the day recovering the energy and sanity that I had lost during the Pumpkin Fest, so it was nice to get out of the house J

Much love and many thanks to my faithful readers!