The Ballad of Amir

Today, Gabe and I went on yet another in the long line of school tours which has punctuated our entire fall season. In the middle of the tour we got a pleasant surprise. Gabe’s old friend from summer trips to the playground, Amir, was eating in the cafeteria with his Kindergarten class!

Before Gabey was in school, I tried to take him to the playground for at least an hour or so a day. His sleep schedule was unusual: he slept a little later so that he’d still be up when Stephanie got home. As a result, there we generally not very many kids at the playground when we were there. One of the few regulars was an older kid named Amir, who, his sister related, came during the slow period at the playground so they could avoid the bullies. Since school’s started, Gabe and I find it hard to make time to go to the playground, and Amir is in Kindergarten full time. So, they’ve only seen each other but once or twice since the beginning of September.

But their reunion was unfortunately a little strange. Gabe and I were pretty excited to see Amir, but his reaction was fairly muted. I might go so far as to say he ignored us as much as possible. I don’t know if he was trying to avoid ridicule from his friends, or whether he was annoyed we haven’t been to visit him.

Gabey wasn’t visibly upset, but after we left the cafeteria he started chatting me up about all the friends he has at his school — I think he was a little upset and trying to console himself.

Who knew politics were so complicated at such a young age?