A garden of little flowers

Jack is student of the week this week in his kindergarten class at Little Flower School. Parents know the routine:

Create a poster with pictures of your family, of when you were a baby, of your favorite things, of what you want to be when you grow up.

Be the line leader. Be the teacher's helper. Pick the stories for the reading circle. Pass out the snacks.

Yesterday, Jack also got to pick three classmates with whom to have lunch outdoors.

He picked Lauren Bautista, Gianna Gonzalez and Dylan Wong.

Now I went to a private school in Virginia which integrated ahead of the county's public schools. There were maybe three African-Americans in a school of about 125 kids. I've worked more than 30 years for a company that has prided itself on the diversity in its workplace.

But nothing has compared to the experience my children have been fortunate to have at Little Flower, where the Asian, Hispanic and Anglo populations are all about equal.

My kids have had sleep-overs in homes where Spanish is the first language.  They've hosted birthday parties where they've been the only caucasians. And Jack had lunch yesterday with Ms. Bautista, Ms. Gonzalez and Mr. Wong.

I imagine, if they should stumble upon this decades from now when our world, its peoples and cultures are even more intertwined, they'll wonder, "So what was the big deal about that, Dad?"

Yes, we will miss Little Flower, a garden of many varieties.