How To Handle Things Like An Adult (for the most part)

I had an awful feeling today that Alice would need some support at school. I don't want to be the annoying mom, but I thought that eating lunch with her today wouldn't be an issue. I get up, get dressed, put on my best war paint, straighten my hair, and head off to her school at 10:55 (her school is literally a 2 minute drive away). I sign in at the office and then sit on the bench in front of the lunchroom, waiting on my daughters class.

Another class comes through first. Adrienne's class. We spot each other at the same time. Her eyes widen and she quickly looks away, down at the floor. Another girl openly stares at me, I assume her to be Courtney (which was later confirmed). Their class goes in, and I wait a few minutes longer for Alice's class. To be honest, she didn't seem to care that I was there, but a few other girls did. Brandy ran up and hugged me.

They were able to have "free lunch" today, which means they get to sit with their friends, instead of boy-girl-boy-girl. All of the girls except for one come and sit with Alice and me. We talk and laugh. The girl that didn't come sit with us? Yeah, Meredith. She was sitting with this boy who I've met before and honestly, he really seems to have a crush on my daughter. I haven't told her this, but he is so cute, because when we met, he told me that he was so glad that Alice won the writing contest. Meredith starts whispering in his ear and he looks over at us. I ignore it for the most part, we are having fun laughing at our end of the table. One of the girls is ready Last Song, the Nicholas Spark novel?

At that point, this boy gives Meredith a strange look, gets up, and moves to our end of the table, with all of us girls. He keeps trying to engage Alice in conversation. It was so cute. If I only thought he liked her before, now I know he does. He only wanted her attention. Yes, she's too young for that, but as mom, I thought it was adorable.

Finally, it was time for them to go back to class. Adriennes class was already lined up. Both classes hit the playground together after lunch, so they were waiting on us. As I passed Adrienne, I smiled at her and said "Hi Adrienne!", as if nothing wrong had ever happened between my daughter and her. I think I shocked her because her eyes got really wide and her mouth kind of dropped open. I just kept my smile in place and waved. She sort of nodded her head.

All of Alice's friends gave me a hug and asked me to stay. It made the strong mom part of me feel so much better that my daughter has these friends around her. Knowing that my daughter will not be alone. While she still needs me to protect her from the bad, she has the friends who can support her.

Hopefully, making my presence known, is enough to calm things down a bit. I know that it's scary to attack a child knowing you might see her mom right around the corner. ;)