Sunshine in the Sandbox

Shelby and I went outside for recess today. It was a beautiful sun-filled day....why not....right? We ran, I pushed her on the swing and we played in the sand. Not sand, really....more of a pea gravel. It is a dirty bunch of rocks that inevitably get into my shoes...but for Shelby it is Heaven. It's like the huge rice table in my Mom's classroom. Her kids would use it for tactile stimulation. I loved it when she would fill it with split peas. I could play in that all day. Anyhoo....Shelby was finished swinging and was sitting under her swing. I sat next to her to be at a better vantage point for interrupting the thought process that brought a handful of rocks to her mouth. As we basked in the sun...the cutest pair of pink and green and white Adidas ran past and stopped at the swing next to us. Of course I commended this little cherub on her shoe choice. "Thanks," she said in her squeaky munchkin voice. "They're new." "Oh," I replied with a knowing tone", I love new shoes....especially pink ones." She informed me that she loves all the colors on her shoes and began swinging herself higher and higher. "You know what I love most about new clothes?" she asked me. "I feel so much older when I wear them." "Really?" I asked. "Yeah, like 6 or 7." At this point I am just trying not to laugh. She was just so cute...and serious. Then another class joined us outside and Dominic....my Dominic....jumped on the swing next to my little blond friend. "Hey," he yelled to me in his 80-year-old-smoker voice. "Can you come push me?" "Sorry, Dominic." I replied. "I have to stay close to Shelby." "I can do it", my little friend replied. Picture this teeny tiny little wisp of a thing standing behind this normal sized 6 year old boy on a swing. But she put he back into it and began pushing Dominic again and again until he was over her head. "What do you tell her?" I asked Dominic. "Thank you!" he replied. She sat back on her swing and gazed at me with a look older than her years. "Even though he is a bully to me.....it was the nice thing to do." Ya coulda knocked me over with a feather at that point. "You know what, sweetie, YOU are a good friend. I hope someday I can be a good friend like that." And just like that recess was over. I took Shelby inside and ended my shift by handing her over to Cindy for lunch. I got in my car and prepared to head home. I sat for a minute outside the school .... listening to the remaining class enjoy their recess. How many kids on that playground today would have helped the bully swing his swing. Would I have?