This morning I experienced the first true horde of children I've seen since my SCORE! director days. And it was... horde-like. But it solidified my belief that I really am just more patient than the average person with children. Even hordes of them.

My current SCORE! center had a spelling bee this morning at one of the local private schools. If I had to estimate I would say that about sixty kids showed up, and half of them were in kindergarten through second grade. This half constituted the first spelling group to compete, and corraling them up on stage and getting them to stand in line formation and go up to the microphone in some sort of order was very much like herding dozens of penguins. (I picked penguins over cattle because penguins are cute and little, just like these kiddies were.)

I got the feeling that most people would be daunted by such a task, or at the very least frustrated, but they were all just so adorable and excited. (One girl was nervous and afraid of heights and sweated her entire body's worth of fluids out through her hands, which I found out when I held her hand and brought her up the mic.) I wanted to give each and every one of them a big hug just for trying.

Bring on the hordes!