Two Girls

In my class, I have the shyest, quietest little girl.

In my class, I have the boldest, most self directed girl.

They are polar opposites, and like magnets (or maganets for you Good Place fans out there), those opposites have found each other, and it is a perfect friendship.

On the playground, at work time, pretty much everywhere, these two are inseparable.

After a 90 minute essay writing practice today, we took a ten minute break to run around like idiots. On our way in, Bold Girl told me that she’d fallen and hurt her wrist. She was really hurt, we all knew, because there was no boldness. There was quietness, pain, and fear. I fetched ice, I fetched a pillow, and with my phone, I fetched the school nurse. I gathered her backpack, and had her sit with Quiet Girl outside the class to wait for the nurse to come and walk her to the clinic. With a quick look, the nurse knew what I did. Bold Girl was going home.

At the end of the day, Quiet Girl came to me, and asked if I could put a card on her friend’s desk. I said, “Let’s do better for her. Let’s text this to her mom.” I took pictures and sent on word as the children prepped to go home.

The letter in the card was one of the finest tributes to a friendship I’ve ever read. She wrote, “You make my life fuller, and you make me braver.”

Bold Girl will be okay, but she did break her wrist. She’ll be back soon. And I’m so glad she will because these two have reminded me just how incredibly important school friendships are.