Brown & Peach & Pricks

One of the things I worried about when we decided to send the girls to private school was that they would not get the "cultural exposure" that they might get in a public school setting. I'm all about sheltering them but I would prefer them not to be kept secluded in our white middle class bubble. Thankfully, their little school is full of multi-cultured families ... at least in the Pre-K.

The first few weeks of school I was very eager to hear about the girls school day. I was obsessed with finding out if they made any friends, especially since they were separated for the first time and especially Hassie Clare since she usually just tags along with Quinn and her friends. So each day I would ask who they played with and what their new friends names are. After a few weeks of school, this was the conversation in car ride home:
ME: "Did you make any new friends today?"
QUINN: "All my friends in my class are peach and all Hassie Clare's friends are brown."
ME (trying not to giggle because it the first time they have ever mentioned skin color): "Well, there really aren't any differences in the peach and brown kids are there?"
HC: "Yes Mommy. The brown girls have pricks in their ears and the peach girls don't."
Now ... I really had to stop and think about this because there are families from India, Japan and Africa in their class so I'm racking my brain trying to think of what they might have around their ear.
ME: "Pricks ... in their ear? What do they look like?"
QUINN: "Some of the pricks sparkle and some are colored."
HC: "One of the girls pricks is a flower."
ME: "Ohh .... you mean ear rings. Well, besides that ... there really isn't any other differences in peach or brown skin people is there?
HC: "Yes Mommy. After we come inside from the playground, we wash our hands. When the peach girls wash their hands the brown dirt comes off. When the brown girls wash their hands the brown stays on."

A few days later I asked Quinn who she played with and she told me a couple of names. I didn't recognize one of the girls names so I asked her, "what does she look like so Mommy knows who she is?" Quinn said she is a girl and has straight hair. I asked her if she was brown or peach and Quinn said "she is brown with a little  peach mixed together ... It think her mommy forgot to put sunscream (AKA sunscreen) on her this summer." I'm pretty sure she is talking this adorable little Asian girl.

We have a ways to go on teaching them about cultural differences but hopefully we are on the right track. Their little minds are so pure and innocent. I know that someday they will be exposed to racism and hatred but I will do everything I can to educate them so that they know how to react to it when that time comes.

In other news, I'm officially a morning coffee drinker. It happened the week the girls started school during my ritual phone conversation with my sister. We both mentioned that a cup of coffee sounded good ... thus began my new love affair. The reason I never drank coffee before ..............
One summer in undergrad I took Bio I and Bio II. Didn't study a lick all summer (spent a lot of time at the beach that summer) and 2 days before the finals my girlfriend and I decided to pull a double all nighter and cram. The only 24 hour place open in our college town, at the time, was Subway with free coffee refills. For 48 hours, we crammed like mad women and downed black coffee. The first final was Bio II at 9am. The first part of the exam was identifying internal parts of a cat and pig. We would walk into a room with our notebooks and examine these animals cut open and laying on metal slabs with little flags sticking out of their brain, abdomen, etc. I'm not sure if it was the lack of sleep, the black coffee or what but as soon as the formaldehyde smell hit me I puked ...luckily in the lab trash can. And once I started I could not stop. Black coffee out your nose is not fun. So ... Even tough I pulled off a B in that class, I vowed never to drink coffee again. So girls, if you are reading this during your college years, never never never wait until the last minute to study drink black coffee all night while cramming for a test ... make sure you add creamer to it to help coat your tummy!

This picture was taken at our friends backyard wedding last weekend. Jamie said he looks "touched" in this pic but I think he looks handsome. Please take notice of my 2 different earrings.  I tried them both on to see which one looked better before leaving the house and I obviously forgot to change them out. My girlfriend Shelley thought I was trying to be a trend setter .... I love her for thinking I'm cool like that ... but I'm just a forgetful D O R K!