Happy Honeybees
Finding Life’s Greatest Art in the Hum of an Elementary Classroom
I often volunteered in my children’s classrooms. Being there allowed me to meet and chat with their friends, and my presence quietly helped my children build easier, smoother bonds with their classmates. Along the way, I even made a few friends among the parents and teachers.
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Volunteering brought me pure joy. Spending the school day in their rooms — watching them study, play, and share snack time — put my heart entirely at ease. It reassured me that they were thriving. Most of all, I was on cloud nine simply sharing a public space with them, each of us absorbed in our own tasks, exchanging warm glances across the room from time to time. Minutes that would have felt ordinary anywhere else became luminous and memorable simply because my children were there.
One morning in my son’s classroom, I was asked to glue the little bees the students had drawn and colored onto each cell of a paper beehive. Every single bee was different, just as every child is entirely unique. Gathered together in one hive, they formed such a lovely picture that I stood there gazing at the busy swarm, filled with quiet delight. Had I ever been moved quite like this before a celebrated masterpiece in a museum? I lingered before their artwork for a long time, feeling the warmth of small, earnest hands in every brushstroke.
The second photo has my son’s masterpiece. Suddenly, it all clicked — no wonder he had spent the past week enthusiastically lecturing me on bee stingers and proboscises over dinner!
— October 2018
