Our week started off a bit ‘different’ than normal. Monday at 1:30 the phone rang and the nurse from Woodland said, ‘Cami, we have had a large number of students from Simon’s class that have head lice. Although I can’t find anything on him, he says his head has been itching.’ {instant stomach ache}. She said that they checked Owen & Dylan, too & that they were both good. But said that maybe I should come get Simon & get the shampoo to wash his hair, just to be safe. I got to Woodland and walked in looking at the students sitting in the hallway to have their heads checked. Simon smiled and we waited our turn for the nurse to take us in her office & show me what I should be looking for. {this is the 1st time, we’ve had a call about lice}. I told her I didn’t even know where to buy the shampoo. We walked back out of the nurse’s office & I walked over to sign Simon out for the afternoon. A little girl from his class, waiting her turn to have her head checked, ran over to hug him good-bye. I looked down and noticed this little girl was wearing a tank top {in the beginning of March} to school, no sweater over top, she had dirt on her face, and her hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed {let alone washed} in days. As she reached to hug Simon, I instantly wanted to say ‘don’t touch him’, but somehow I didn’t. She smiled at me as she waved good-bye to us both. I walked out feeling physically dirty and I also felt mean for thinking such thoughts.

Simon & I went to Walgreens to look for lice shampoo. We couldn’t find it, as we walked up & down the hair aisle. We then went to the medicine area to look. Then we went BACK to the hair aisle, starting our search again. There was a lady working there who looked up and said, ‘can I help you find something?’ I hung my embarrassed head and said in a whisper ‘do you have any lice shampoo?’ She came over and said, ‘yes, right this way.’ She kindly said to me,  ‘don’t worry, you are not the first person to go through this and you won’t be the last. my kids went through this when they were in school’. I found the stuff we needed. As Simon and I walked to the front to check out, I was so hoping it would be the same lady that helped me find the shampoo, but no. It was another completely different one. Which meant someone else would know that I WAS BUYING LICE SHAMPOO. {oh how my pride was trying to be in control that day}.

As we walked outside I thought of the little girl, again. How sweet she was.

We headed home to shave Simon’s head, sweep the entire house, wash Simon’s wardrobe, spray the entire house, and give him a smelly shampoo. {yes, I was THAT paranoid}. I checked Boo’s head. We checked Simon, again. The other boys arrived home from school, I checked their heads. We had dinner. I checked heads. Homework was done. I checked heads. They all took baths. I checked heads.

And then I thought of the little girl, again. Was she at a home where someone was checking her head? Feeding her dinner?

{Simon sporting his new hair-buzz – he was SO bummed Tuesday morning when I told him I was going to take him to school, so that the nurse could check his hair before he went back to class. He wanted to ride the bus, so he could show his bus driver that he got his haircut ‘because he has lice’ – his words. Oh Simon, you will keep me humble.}

As I thought about Monday’s events, I’m so glad I held my tongue to the little girl. I’m so glad I didn’t put my thoughts of ‘her being dirty’ on Simon. I’m so glad his heart {and the little girl’s heart} are still tender and caring. We went over the ‘not wearing other people’s coats, hats, etc’. Afterall, Simon is still in kindergarten, I have to remind him to wash his hands after he uses the restroom. I will teach him those things in life, but he can teach me that hugging a little girl, who doesn’t look as clean as I’d prefer, is most definitely not the end of the world. It is his way of reaching out to the world and loving them right where they are.

Have I told you, how much I can learn from my kiddos?

I’m SO thankful God gave them to me to learn from, not just for me to teach.