So. I am lucky enough to be kindasorta friends with a very cool Nashville musician I admire, Amanda Shires. I am also lucky enough to work doing after-school programs at a school that is known as a bit of a chaos gremlin den, but with some very cool and fun children. I’m having a great time. The kids are awesome.
So. There is this kid. I’ll call her G. And y’all.
She is literally the 5th grade version of Amanda Shires. Like. I don’t know how to describe it except they are the adult and child version of each other. And it is DELIGHTFUL.
So, to get everyone up to speed, this is Amanda Shires.
Amanda Shires:
- Plays violin
- Art projects for days (paints in her spare time and is excellent at it)
- delightful chaotic ADHD energy (this is not me armchair diagnosing she literally mentioned it in an interview)
- amazing fashion sense
- funky shoes
- cool glasses
- kinda hilarious at nearly all times
- specific animal obsession (birds)
- Pisces
Now. This kid, G:
- ALSO PLAYS VIOLIN
- Art projects for days (I usually end up doing crafts with the kids on Fridays when they split up between kids who want to play gym games, make crafts, or do legos. She always comes up with the coolest most creative stuff.)
- delightful chaotic ADHD energy (luckily diagnosed, supported, all that, but neurodivergent af and I’m here for it)
- amazing fashion sense especially for a 5th grader (literally wears a purple cowboy hat randomly some days)
- funky shoes (was wearing white platform tennis shoes with little rainbow accents the other week)
- cool glasses (wears red cat-eye glasses with silver spikes on them)
- hilarious (commits to every bit, makes random funny noises, sometimes decides to be a hognose snake for the rest of the day)
- specific animal obsession (in her case, mostly bearded dragons, but also axolotls and snakes)
- but also randomly made this black feathered bird/plague doctor mask thing and randomly ran around the playground yelling “I’M A CROW”
- ALSO A PISCES APPARENTLY
Like I said. Seriously. Adult and child versions of each other.
Even better, I have now made them aware of each other’s existence. I was like “G, you have some very unofficial Spotify homework over spring break. Look up Amanda Shires. She is basically adult Nashville musician you.” I started describing her, and G was stoked. Also, when I mentioned the “very into specific animals” thing, she immediately asked “DOES SHE LIKE BEARDED DRAGONS?!?!” Asking the important questions here.
And I mentioned G to Amanda, like yo, just so you know there is a kid I work with who is basically baby you. (She seemed tickled by this as well.)
And now I’m telling the general public because this is just too delightful to keep to myself.
G came up in conversation with someone I work with, too. And I was like “okay so I have this friend halfway across the country who is her absolute twin, just 30ish years older. I feel like I have peered into the future and seen adult G, and it is amazing.”
Also this is gonna make me giggle to myself now every time one of my more uptight coworkers (not the person mentioned above) says something like “well, these kids are gonna have to learn to sit still/comply/be quiet/conform”, implying if I don’t make them sit “criss cross applesauce”, they will not become functioning adults.
Because y’all. I truly feel like I have seen this kid 30 years in the future. Without having to suppress her “weirdness”. And the result is great, actually.
Update, G got a new pair of glasses (actually an older pair she thought she lost but found in her house) and they’re HEART SHAPED with thick black plastic frames. As if it was possible for a) that kid to be any cooler and b) for these two to be even more THE SAME PERSON
