Brilliant … But Bouncy

Hey, I Still Had My Hand Up!

During Shane’s first day of middle school orientation, he and a dozen or so other children gathered together in a classroom.

The teacher – who has been doing this every summer for at least three years, and possibly 30 – said, “Raise your hand if you know anyone else in this room.”

Hands went up everywhere. Even though kids come to this middle school from five different elementary schools, everyone knew someone.

“Now keep your hand up if you know two or more people,” said the teacher. Some hands went down; Shane’s hand stayed up.

Shane had friends from both of his elementary schools, and knew two girls from church.

“Three or more?” said the teacher. Some hands went down; some stayed up. This went on for a few more moments, until the teacher got to eight. Shane’s hand stayed high in the air.

Then, in what was probably a foretelling moment for Shane’s middle school career, the teacher completely overlooked Shane and said, “All right, so everyone’s hand went down after eight.”

Then he moved on to something else.

And Shane – who is all about numbers, and accuracy, and who really did know more people than anyone else in the room – quietly put his hand down, and said nothing.

When he told me this story in the car, I said, “So did you say, ‘Hey, I still had my hand up!’?”

“No,” Shane said.

I sighed quietly to myself. “So who were all the people you knew?”

Shane rattled off a list of names. He was so excited to finally be able to tell someone all 10 names.

We drove home – him, none the wiser that he doesn’t have to remain invisible. And me, knowing that he will anyway.