she is legend

i was in the middle of the second set of a doubles match last monday when the manager of the pro shop motioned to me from the fence. "your husband just picked up your daughter from school," he told me. "he emphasized that it was not an emergency, but wanted you to know that he's at home with her now." i was rattled for a bit. i can count on, oh, one finger the number of times i've been called to retrieve one of my children from school in the six total years they've been going. susanna had seemed totally fine that morning, so i had no idea what might be wrong. i drove home following my match and walked into the house, expecting to find her curled into a fetal position in chris's lap. instead, there she was, jumping around in the family room, watching sesame street while chris worked on his laptop. she was singing along to elmo and sipping on ginger ale and having a marvelous time. so, what had happened? she had thrown up. that was the only information he was given, as she was sitting morosely in the director's office at the time and chris was ready to whisk her home. after observing her running around the house with no fever and no other symptoms and wolfing down everything in sight for the rest of the afternoon, i surmised that it must have been the yogurt she ate for breakfast that she had complained had tasted weird. i threw the yogurt out, she returned to school the next day, and it was but a distant memory. until ... i began hearing from classmates. classmates' parents. teachers. the preschool director. this was, by all accounts, no ordinary measly throw-up episode. this was the Vomit Event of the Century. here's how it all went down: she entered chapel with her class (of course! what better place for this to happen than in chapel?) and was seated in the pew among all the three- and four-year olds (of course! it was monday, the only day when all 100+ children are present!) and faculty. and without any warning, she began to empty the contents of her stomach all over herself and the adorable brand-new outfit (of course! first time ever worn!) she was wearing that day. as quick as lightning, ms. kathy high-tailed her outta there and toward the bathroom as fast as her legs could carry her. the only problem was, susanna kept at it, all the way down the hallway, and with such volume that another teacher who was following to help apparently slipped in it on the slick floor, got covered in it, and had to drive home to change clothes. they had to lengthen the chapel service by three extra songs just to give the custodians enough time to clean it all up. friends of mine told me that when they picked up their kids from school hours later, they got the play-by-play delivered with such fascination and awe that it was clear susanna had made far more of an impression than any art project or center activity had that day. yeah, that's my girl. when she does something, she doesn't just do it halfway. she goes all out. (and so does her yogurt.)