The Ring Bearer

Well, it was a good week with the Little People.  One of the best contributions to the week was the weather, which after Wednesday (rain all day) was cool and wonderful.  Very fall-ish.

Friday was the school's Fall Carnival, so everything was all decorated around the cafeteria area.  The decorations and the weather were perfect for our theme this week of "Fall".  (The Little People just don't get Fall as well when it's 100 degrees outside).  After our lunch on Friday we walked around looking at the decorated carnival tables, scarecrows, pumpkins and haystacks.  We even took a class picture amongst the pumpkins, which is nice because I don't think we're going to the pumpkin patch this year.

After our Fall Tour we moved onto the playground, where everyone was very excited to run around in the nice weather.  We were using the much-unused back gate, and while I was trying to get the lock open, the kids started pushing against each other impatiently.  Then I heard this:

Sally:  Hey!  Don't push in front of me - I'm the line leader!
Billy:  Well, I'm the Weather Watcher.
Suzie  (from the back of the mob): I'm the Light Helper!
Lizzie:  Well, I'm the ring bearer.

I stopped working with the lock.  "What did you say?"  I asked.  "Did you say you were the ring bearer?"

"Yep."  She answered.

I laughed at this as I finally got the lock undone, commenting to my co-teachers, "She must have been at a wedding recently. But the Ring Bearer?  What about the Flower Girl?"

Then we started wondering if perhaps she had been watching the Lord of the Rings lately and had appointed herself the Ring Bearer, but knowing this particular child (and the fact that she's four), we decided that wasn't very likely.

I've kind of laughed about it in my head since then, but at the same time still found it puzzling.  Finally, this afternoon it came to me suddenly:  She didn't mean the ring bearer.  She meant the Ring Beller.  Because of course she really was the Bell Ringer yesterday.

She wasn't a Tolkien fan or an Equal-Opportunity-Wedding-Assistant after all.  She was a Ring Beller.