out of pre-school world and into the real one.

I have never been a big lover of snakes. The way their little bodies slither back and forth, as if struggling to get to their destination. Their skin slick from a new shed and their eyes beating and tongue hissing, protruding through the air the way an angry fist would through a wall.

So, while following my little friend, Phin, through the playground yard to the door to go inside to change his pants because they were itching him...you can imagine my surprise of a rather large black snake on the platform of the preschool door where Phin just placed his tiny feet. Instead of panic, which I almost expected to come over me, I was intrigued. Phin pointed and screamed, "WORM"!
"No, Phin, that's actually a snake," I said.
"Well, I call it a worm," replied Phin.
OK.
The snake slithered away and I watched it disappear into a hole in the ground. While following Phin to his cubby to fetch some new pants the snake stayed in my mind. How weird. It's the middle of the day and tons of people are outside...so, why is that snake coming out now? I walked back out and as Phin ran ahead of me I looked back to the hole where the slick creature so perfectly slid into. There he was. Head and 1/4 of his body sticking out, looking...I stared at him...and he slowly came out again, right by my feet. Feeling more in wonder than anything I stood in awe staring at this strange being. When had I ever really seen a snake? I thought...he slithered along the grass and I followed him...both of us going in slow motion. He made his way to the garden gate and into the pumpkin vines where I could no longer see him. It was as if he was trying to tell me something.

I wondered why I wasn't scared...perhaps it was the months of working with children that changed something inside of me. The unexpected is something that one encounters daily in conversation with children. Or in conversation with nature. Children have a way of seeing the world in such a different light, such a different perspective. The curious eyes of a child....a big black snake, a worm, no big deal. Why would it harm ME?