Space Cadets

2012 - A head-space odyssey...

It's 8.10am. A school day. I'm still in my bathrobe, wet hair and shut in the laundry with a bucket of soapy water and one very unhappy and uncooperative pooch. Who's feet I'm about to attack with a scrubbing brush.

'Shit' where's the damn scrubbing brush got to?

The fur-person, having stepped in his own poo, walked laps of the living-room before finally settling onto his faux-suede futon while Lucie was having breakfast.

Child & Daddy Person comment simultaneously; "peee-yeeeew mummy, what's that smell?"

"Honey, what's that on Buddy's bed?"

I was busy working on gathering items for her show & tell presentation that we'd sworn the night before, we wouldn't forget and leave till the last minute. Hah!

We're pretty sure it's 'bring in something interesting from space' & I've found her glowing moon, but the battery operated sparkly stars she has her heart set on have gone A.W.O.L.

I looked at the pooh smears about the floor and peeping out from under our dog's reclining body, and that last minute stretched, grew beyond what any mother could expect to squeeze into your average school morning.

I think, 'Shit!' and I say "oh."

But never underestimate the power of last-minute-stretching. With help from the Daddy person, Lucie was out of the door at 8:45, yes, with a less than elaborate hair-do, but necessary show&tell items in her school-bag, a clean, albeit dispirited dog in the back of the car and that stinking pile of towels & dog-bed cover festering where they landed outside the back door.

We arrive in her classroom at 9am on the dot thanks to the kind benevolence of the traffic gods.

First thing I notice is that the show & tell topic indicator on the classroom door says; "an interesting fact about space".

'crap.'

First boy up has an artistic illustration his parent has drawn of a rocket;
He tells the class about the first Lunar landing and that it takes three whole days to fly to the moon. There were more interesting facts that I missed, because his classmates were restless and fidgety, and I was very busy thinking;
'crap'.

Lucie was the act to follow that.

"I brought the moon," she says extracting her little light-up perspex crescent moon -with what might have been a flourish if the plastic bag had been more obliging.
"..and a star!"

The entire fidgety audience was still and silent as Lucie, then her teacher fiddled with the star's on switch.

Finally lit, lights were dimmed so everyone could appreciate the glowiness & sparkliness of Lucie's moon & star and the silence gave way to soft "ooooh's" & "ahhhhhs"..

I feel kind of sad that Benji's better prepared, beautifully delivered & thoroughly informative presentation was outshone (pun-intended) by Lucie's little low-wattage light-show.

But that's show biz for ya :0/

Regardless, we are going to aim a bit higher & prepare a bit further in advance for next week:

Topic: What's you favourite planet? And why?

Any ideas? Please?