They finally quit saying, “You can’t go back to school, yet.”

Anyone who is not aware of the fact that 2020 has been unlike any other year in the past hundred years may be breathing, but they must be in a comatose state. For the centenarians that can remember how things were over the past century, there is much to which to compare this year. For school-age children, not so much.

Perhaps, more than anyone else, young children need social interaction. They may even need social interaction more than they need social distancing, even though physical distancing is very important in controlling the virus. Even though they are often better at adapting to situations than their parents and grandparents, they still need some sense of normalcy.

After more than five months of summer vacation, Katie Grace was ready to return to the classroom…finally! All across America, kids are headed back to school in all kinds of different ways. Many are in class virtually, on computers. Some are going to the school, a few at a time, wearing masks and social distancing. Some school districts are practicing some type of hybrid model. Students are in the building a couple of days a week and at home on computers the other days.

Katie Grace is enrolled in a charter school where she goes to school every day for half a day. Her mother teaches, on line, every day, so K.G. is in an after-school program called SOLA, before school, the first half of the day. Confused? Imagine her confusion.

But confused or not, K.G. was so excited about finally being with children her age again. For five months, she has had adults for playmates. Now she can be with her peers… groups of 10 at a time.           When Shannon picked her up from SOLA to transport her to regular school, she ran to the car sweaty, dirty, and exhilarated from her active learning. “Mom!” she burst out, “My friends wore me out! I’m so tired I won’t be able to play at recess when I get to school.”

Then, on her way home from that first day of second grade, bubbling with excitement, she called Nahnee. “Guess what Nahnee! Today we learned the power of ‘yet’ in school.”

“You learned what?”

“The power of ‘yet’. It’s a magical word.”

“Yes?”

“No! Not yes! Yet!”

“Oh…”

“Yeah, yet! It’s a magical word. If you put it on the end of a sentence it changes everything. Like if I say ‘I can’t do that math problem’ that means I can’t ever do it, but if I say ‘I can’t do that math problem, YET,’ that means I can still learn how to do it. If the teacher says, ‘You can’t ride the merry-go-round’ that might mean – never – but if she says ‘you can’t ride the merry-go-round, YET,’ it means I can still ride, but just later. Isn’t that a magical word?”

John, the beloved disciple wrote, “…we are the children of God, and it does not YET appear what we shall be, but…when (Jesus) appears, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”

K.G.’s right. Yet is a magical word. When added to a sentence it opens up all kinds of possibilities. It changes the meaning from, “not gonna happen” to “it certainly will happen…sometime.”

Remember, we’re not home…YET.       

Steve Playl: playlsr@yahoo. com