DailySusan Humor Blog

OUT IN LEFT FIELD TRIP

One of the worst-kept secrets about parental involvement in schools is how much fun it is to be with the kids. An opportunity to chaperone a field trip is a learning experience for the Moms and Dads, too. It starts the instant you get on that bus and smell those old smells, sing those old songs, and play those old games to pass the time, like Thumb Wars, and Rock, Paper, Scissors.

If you go to a place like a demonstration farm, there are the funny-looking beards on the tom turkeys for the kids to discover, and the enormously fat pigs, and the bantam chickens with feathers on their ankles, and the emus and llamas, and horses and ponies, and the kids’ first up-close look at soybeans and windmills and threshing machines, and a ride on the world’s largest handmade wooden rocking horse, and a chance to shout into an empty grain bin and hear the echo, and a hayrack ride, and that ultimate farm field trip experience, stepping in doo-doo of unknown origin.

And after all that, what do they talk about for years to come? The bus ride.

One mom went to the zoo on a class field trip, and was puzzled when the teacher assigned the other moms to small groups and dispatched them, but asked her to come with her and the last small group of kids. What, did the mom need a chaperone? It turns out one little girl was prone to epileptic seizures unexpectedly, and was not well-controlled on her medication. So the teacher didn’t want to abandon the other children if she suddenly needed medical attention.

But all went well . . . until they were nearly done with their sack lunches and one little boy exclaimed, “I don't feel good -- I'm gonna 'frow up." Then he proved he was not bluffing. The teacher whisked him away, and here was the mom, left alone with the epileptic girl and classmates after all.

They had a ball, though. They even got lost. But they saw lots of cool stuff the other groups didn’t see. That’s the ultimate bragging rights when they got back on the bus for the trip back from wonderland to reality.

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Prayer request: He’s only 58, and he’s a devoted husband and father of three gorgeous blonde softball girls from our same high school, and grandfather to four adorable grandbabies. But boom! He’s suddenly diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, and it is throughout his body. His name is Denny and he and his wife Connie are devoted to the Lord and their family. Now they must plan for the end here on Earth for him, and what their faith assures them is a new beginning for him with his Savior. Lord Jesus, we lift this precious man and his loved ones up to You for TLC and most of all, peace. Kindle compassion and help in the hearts of all those who know them so that this crisis can reveal Your provision in their lives and Your overwhelming caring and concern that Denny and all those who love him still recognize that You are always, always good, and what happens is always, always OK. O Death, where is thy sting? There is none, for those who are in Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:55)