So, I have this awesome group of girlfriends from high school. There were 7 of us and yes, we were magnificent. We have become scattered to the four winds now: I’m in law school at Notre Dame, Krista teaches in Denver, CO, Jill is in med school at Iowa, Leah works for Iowa State, Deborah just took a job with the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra, Rachel is in Divinity School at Yale, and Kathleen has two beautiful children and is going back to school to be a nurse in Waverly, IA. It’s pretty amazing.
Every few months or so, we do a round of email updates where we each take a turn to say, “Hey, here’s what’s going on with me.” This time, we got an additional email from Krista that I will include in its entirety here:
so…..a few giggles for you….as i was/am packing/unpacking i have found quite a few things that have conjured up several memories — what fun!
this one, however, i could not keep to myself. i found myself in tears — laughing so hard at our deep and profound thoughts as 5th graders. yes, yes, i do speak of the 1992 “Expressions” plastic-spiral bound book, copyrighted by Hansen Elementary School.
please, let me share:
SNOWFLAKES by leah behrens:
wandering, floating, fluttering,
dreamy, poetic, magical, six sides,
sugar
GRANDMA’S HOUSE by andrea reiher
grandma’s house
fun, isolated,
climbing, playing, running,
the barn is very old and fun
woods
MY TINY METAL CAR by jill moore
i had a tiny metal car,
i got mad and threw it far.
it landed on the president’s head,
so for a week, he couldnt get to bed.
for the rest of his life, the president had a scar.
SUNBEAMS by kathleen thedens
sunbeams are pretty,
i wish i saw them a lot.
they are beautiful.
i dont want to overwhelm you, so i did not include excerpts from tony dunn, ben echeverria, katie milne, david kalkwarf, jessie gronberg, jamie foth, kurt albright, and chris eubank. perhaps another day. 
(i must say that even reading those peoples names made me giggle….amazing that i can still picture them! what in the world are they doing now?!)
thats all for now, folks. hope you enjoyed this poetry session…
love you all!!
Here was my response:
Jill Moore wins the Internets today. I am SNORTING with laughter. Oh dear lord.
And the lovely and talented almost-Dr. Moore responded:
uh…yeah… so apparently I was a budding political activist in the fifth grade. I swear i don’t remember having such hatred for the president, although these days, i believe i would throw a metal car at his head and purposefully do a poor job stitching him up so that he would have an ugly scar……
thanks krista for bringing tears of laugher to my eyes. what a treat! -jill
The Lovely Leah-beah sent her $.02:
At a young age, Jill already showed signs of cynicism and political
activism. You are my hero. I feel like my poem is a bit ‘trippy’ if you will. Interesting….
Andrea-
well said, the barn certainly is old.
And Kathleen, I wish I saw sunbeams
more too.
Thanks for sharing- it made me smile.
Love,
Leah
