the power of imagination

This week in Shannon's Seedling class the theme is "Baja Fairy Duster". As usual, Shannon has prepared very creative activities and snacks for this lesson, as well as an equally creative story.

In her story about the fairy duster there are 2 main characters, Blossom(the "fairy duster") and Baja(the plant itself). The premise of the story is that the petals on Baja's flowers are so small that it is hard for the pollinators to see them. Baja, being the ingenious creature that he is, devises a plan to ask Blossom if he can use the old strands from her duster(which is used to "dust" off the flowers of plants in order to keep them looking their best) to "add" to his flowers. Blossom loves the idea of sharing her strands, of course, and happily agrees. So the story continues with Blossom sharing her strands and Baja's flowers growing in beauty and therefore increasing their attractiveness to the pollinators.
In Shannon's Tuesday afternoon class she has sisters, Francesca and Esme. They are very adorable and imaginative. They often wear princess-y dresses to class. I have been able to spend time with them and experience them interacting with Shannon(we all took a camping trip with friends). After story time, Esme and Jackie(her mom) approached Shannon. Shannon, noticing that Esme's eyes appeared red from crying, asked Esme what was wrong. With some gentle prodding from her mom, Esme proceeded to tell Shannon that she was so happy/excited from the story that it made her cry. Pause for effect. Shannon could hardly believe what she was hearing(shan later described the feeling as 'the biggest bear hug on my heart').
This story makes me realize 2 things:
1. Kids imaginations are a very beautiful thing, something that we should try to hold on to as long as we can.
2. My wife has got to be the most amazing person/teacher/wife in the world. I can only imagine the stories that will be told to our little ones.