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There was an ever so faint knock at the door. With a fussy baby nestled in my arms, I peeked out the window and saw a little blond kid, our neighbor Adam. “Can I bring baby Bird to my school for Show and Tell?” he asked. I literally LOLed.
Of course I said yes! I mean, who could say no to a towheaded kindergartener who was enamored with the baby next door?
And so we set the date and time, meticulously scheduled around nap time. Baby had to be fed and rested in order to impress, after all. We strolled to the neighborhood elementary school and followed the strum of an acoustic guitar that led us to a charming classroom brimming with natural light. Little kids gathered criss cross applesauce on a colorful rug, and all heads turned when a strange woman and a stroller entered the room. Adam rushed to the door eagerly, toothy grin of pride across his face.
“This is baby Bird!” he beamed.
I unbuckled Bird from the stroller and carried him to the mat, where the children erupted in squeals of curiosity and surprise. The teacher laughed in equal parts “WTF is happening right now?” and utter delight. Baby Bird was likely taken aback as all these little faces peered at him and lurched into his personal space. He crawled around as if greeting every kid one by one while Adam chattered about having a baby for a neighbor and his surrogate big brother role. We stayed just long enough for Bird to make his rounds before losing out to overstimulation. Adam was hailed a cool big bro, his pride palpable. We gave kudos to his his bold show and tell choice and departed with hugs all around.
We have since moved away from that old neighborhood, but the time Bird was show and tell for the neighbor kid remains in our family lore.
And lore it remained…
We never saw that teacher again, and neighbor kid Adam is an adult and long gone by now. In my job at a construction company, we were visiting job sites for a video shoot. It turns out that we built the school where that former kindergarten teacher is now the principal. I hadn’t seen him since Bird was a baby, but his name stuck with me. When we met, I knew that smile instantly, and I was blown away by this stroke of kismet.
And so early one Friday morning when we were working with clients for this video shoot, Mr. Ware stepped into the office, and just before he got mic’ed up, I (re)introduced him to Bird, who just so happened to be interning at my company over the summer.
And so 18 years later, they became my show and tell.