For Real

On the second day of the week, Kalani was surprised when I recognized her at Kid's Club. "How do you know my name?" she asked. 

By the end of the week she recognized me too, tapping me on the shoulder as she walked by the craft area, a vinyl tablecloth spread over dusty clumps of grass. "Hey, can I make one?" she asked. She sat down to work on her bookmark, diligently searching to find the letters of her name on the foam sticker sheets. She knew "K" was the first one, but wasn't sure what came next. "Maybe an 'a'?" I suggested. She pulled off a capital "Q." I said, "I don't think that one is in your name."

"My mom said it has a circle and a tail," she said. I smiled, and we finally finished spelling her name: KQLQNI.

She wandered off but came back when it was time for snack and story. I was cleaning up the craft area. "Can I sit on your lap?" she asked. So I hurried to put away the craft items and we joined the rest of the kids sitting in dusty rows in front of Joshua. The team passed out snacks to all the kids while Kalani asked me name questions: what my mom's name was, what her last name was, what my last name was, what my second name was. Then Joshua started on the story. He reviewed the story from the day before, and then his actors, some of the kids, joined him to act out the story of the day: Jesus welcoming the little children. "I was in the story once," Kalani told me.

"What were you?" I asked.

"An angel."

"What did you say?" I asked.

"There were thousands of angels," she answered.

"Oh, it must have been the story of an important baby being born!" I told her.

We fell silent, listening to Joshua and his crew, but Kalani started her questions again in the middle of the story. "What's your mom's name?" I whispered to her that right now was time to listen to Joshua and hear the story. "I'm listening," she said. "I know what the story is about. He's talking about Jesus, who did bubbles with the kids and played with them. He loved the kids. My mom told me that Jesus loves grown ups."

I said, my cheek against her warm shoulder, my arms wrapping around her, "He loves kids too, a lot."

"For real or for fake?" she asked.

"For real. He really loves kids."

Joshua finished the story and we had a few more minutes to play. Kalani wanted to get on my back. She's only five, but she's a big girl and carrying her all over the field was a good workout! It was time to go, and Kalani asked me if I could walk her home, "to the brown house." Joshua said she could ride in the Suburban with us, so when we were all loaded up she climbed up into the front seat with me and we drove down the block to her brown house, where she hopped down and disappeared inside. See you later, Kalani. Don't forget, Jesus loves kids, for real.