Day 25 – the colour for today is a little boy’s bright blue frames.
I have just started a part time job helping to look after kids at a school while they wait for their parents to collect them. On my first day, the coordinator warned me about certain children and what they were likely to do… run off, disappear without warning, not get to the toilet in time, the ones who needed to be kept separate because of teasing and bullying, a little boy who is a selective mute, one who has to be addressed on his level eyeball to eyeball if he throws a tantrum.
She then opened the medicine cupboard and showed me where the epipens were and other medication that might be needed. Apparently the school is nut free and kiwi fruit free. Peanuts are a daily snack at our school in India, no one has an allergy and behavioural issues are minimal. I realise how fortunate I’ve been.
I briefly contemplated throwing up my hands and walking out. It’s not as if I have to work and I am about four decades older than any of the other staff. I decided that was being a quitter.
There is a little boy from kindergarten who is there every day. When I say little, I mean he is tiny and looks incredibly fragile. His manner is quite serious and self-assured. He plays diligently with whatever toys are available, sometimes with others, often alone. He wears these amazing glasses with bright blue frames.
Today he was crouching down on the floor. At first I thought he was having trouble getting up. He stretched his legs out behind him, then his arms out in front and arched his back . Finally he had both feet and one hand on the ground and his other hand was raised as if he was trying to reach the low table nearby.
He tilted his head sideways and deep brown eyes gazed at me through those blue frames.
“My teacher said this is how you do a balance.”
My day was made.

SOL22
What a perfect Slice this is. I just want to hug that little boy in the blue frames—and boy do I understand your being a bit off-put by all the admonitions. I am so glad you stayed with the job.
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Thanks for reading. Yes little people like him just make the world a better place and they don’t even realise it.
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Kindergarteners can make any day better. Good for you for sticking with this job. You will make a difference.
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Thanks for reading and your encouragement, Joyce. Yes, they surely do make a day better.
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Hopefully this is what you needed for a happier end to the day!
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Thanks for reading! Yes it definitely made a difference!
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Oh! You made that little boy come to life in front of me – I can just see him! – and that made my day, too. In fact, maybe *I* need to do a balance. Some Fridays seem to call for it.
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Thanks for reading and appreciating, Amanda! Yes, we all need to do a bit of a ‘balance’ from time to time!
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This story made my day too. That little boy with the glasses! I love it.
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Oh great, thanks for reading! He is probably the cutest little guy I’ve ever come across!
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Ha – the magic of children, restoring to us color and balance so often lost in the grind of daily living! I am also chuckling because I wrote of balance today and then came to read this… that’s how it often is in writing communities, same ideas falling a little differently on all of us. Also speaks to something we all may be searching for. Definitely balance, of late! Bless that boy in his blue glasses.
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Oh yes, I read your post some time after writing this (I always seem to be a day behind in my reading!) Thanks for reading and yes, I look forward to catching up with him every time I’m there.
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I can see the boy in the blue frames balancing and making your day. Slicing is about teasing out those joys hiding behind blue frames.
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Thanks for reading and for such a perfect comment. That last sentence is so poetic!
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