Last Thursday I saw my students’ faces for the first time in two years. It was one of my happiest moments in recent memory. I’d all but forgotten how ebullient children’s smiles are, or how intense their expression when something captures their interest, or how easily their laughter comes. When I first announced that my classes would be following the new County guidelines of not requiring masks outside, I was a bit unsure. Would parents be on board? Would we recognize each other? Would preschoolers be able to put their masks back on when we went inside? The answer to everything was a happy yes.
Class time drew near and I waited by the canopy on the front lawn, my own mask dangling from a chain around my neck. I was a little nervous and not sure what to expect. Then around the corner came a parent and child, maskless and grinning, and I felt part of the weight of the last two years lift. From the other direction came another pair, a spring in their step I could have sworn was not there before. We smiled at each other, took in the newness, conversed without effort. Then we sang, and it was glorious.
A couple of parents preferred to keep their child masked outdoors, which was fine, and even a couple of students who could have gone maskless declined to do so. Perfectly okay. We all feel comfortable on our own timeline.
The thing that became immediately apparent was the question of what the children should do with their masks while we were outside. A few had neck chains or pockets, and we brainstormed that the others could put their masks under their rugs or in the pocket of the wagon. (This was easily solved with just a few students but makes me wonder how the schools are going to work it.) And could they put their masks back on when it was time to go inside to do the big instruments? They certainly could. These are pandemic children, adaptable and skilled in unique things.
I don’t know if we’ll follow suit so quickly when the indoor mask mandate is lifted, but having them off outdoors for now is a wonderful thing. I hope I never take seeing a student’s face for granted again.
—Linda