Unexpected guests at Wimbledon

I teach First day school at Meeting for Worship which is Quaker speak for Sunday school at church. Early Quakers did not use the days of the week or months of the year because of their Pagan origins, preferring to say “First day” for Sunday and so on and “First month” for January etc. On the gravestones outside the Meeting House it tells you in this old fashioned language about the death date of the person buried underneath.  Just a bit of Quaker history for all those who don’t know. Back to the story.

 

Our class consists of four children whose identities I will protect because of their tender ages. We have (from oldest to youngest, although interestingly not tallest to smallest) C (aged 5), K (aged 4), A (aged 4) and I (aged 2).

 

Every week we choose someone in the congregation to write a little note to either wish them good health if they are ill or old or just say something we appreciate about them. I write the messages and the children draw some pictures and we deliver them after everyone shakes hands to say  Meeting has ended.

 

Today K and A made pictures for Nell who is 91. C asked to make a card for her elderly neighbour who recently had to go to hospital by ambulance. Because C is 5 years old she can write so with a bit of help she wrote a short letter to her neighbour who has heart trouble so there were lots of pictures of hearts with X’s in them for kisses to make her heart better. I wrote to Chris who spent  Saturday at Wimbledon. He was very keen because it was about tennis.

 

He drew carefully lots of (what looked like to us) big scribbles, with a zigzag in the middle. At the bottom there were a few circle shapes and one circle with a hotdog next to it.  He was very proud of it.

 After meeting he gave his picture to Chris and this was the conversation that ensued:

 

Chris: Thank you for the picture.

I: Dat’s a picture of nennis.

Chris: Oh that’s a picture of tennis.

I: (pointing to circle) Dat’s a nennis ball.

Chris: Oh yes, a tennis ball.

I: (pointing to circle with a hotdog) Dat’s a nennis wacket.

Chris: Oh of course a tennis racket.

I: (pointing to hotdog) Dat’s the handle.

Chris: Yes I can see that.

I: (pointing to zigzag) Dat’s a cwocodile.

 

We fell about laughing because you don’t often see one of those at Wimbledon. Or do you? Spiderman suggested maybe the crocodiles are there to steal all the strawberries.  

 

It was good fun and it is wonderful to hear the laughter of children’s voices in Meeting again. It just goes to show that little hearts can be filled with big love.

 

And cwocodiles.