Writing Assignment from my Wife

My daughter Jennifer recently celebrated her 4th birthday. We had a party for her at our local Pizza and Brew and took over an entire back room. We had it there because we couldn't get the date and time we wanted anywhere else. But it was a pretty good place. The food was good, the price reasonable, and the service was great. But I digress...I'm good at that.

One of the games we played was the Left and Right Game. This game is played at the table and consists of passing an object to the person next to you. Someone reads a story and when you hear the word "Left", you pass the item to the person on the left. When you hear the word "Right", you pass it to the person on the right. Whoever is holding the object when the story is finished wins a prize. Being that I'm the writer in the family, it fell upon me to come up with a customized version of this game. This is what I came up with.

Left and Right Game

When Jennifer was born, right away we were left with a feeling that she must have been left here by angels. Pretty soon we knew we were right. Right from the start, she was an adorable baby. Even though she had jaundice and had to be left under lights in the hospital nursery, she took things right in stride. She was left laying on her back, but she put her left hand under her head, and crossed her left leg and left laying there like that, she looked like she was sunning herself.

Right after we left the hospital, Jennifer continued to work her way right into our hearts. We were always left wondering how we managed to be left with such a bright, personable child. She always said things that left us laughing. She was always able to understand new things right away and when she contradicted us about something, she was usually right.

Right now, Jennifer is four years old and every Saturday morning she heads right for dance school. One of the first things that they taught her is her right from her left. Many of the other children in her class know their left foot from their right foot. But sometimes they make a mistake and confuse their left with their right and their right with their left, not realizing that their left is their left and their left is not their right, but that their right is their right and their left is their left. But then they figure out the right moves and use their right as their right and their left as their left and not their right as their left or their left as their right. You’re left feeling happy for these children because of the smiles left on their faces because they’ve figured out their left from their right and are finally using their left as their left and not their left as their right.

But right when you think there is nothing left to learn, the instructors right at the dance school will use whatever time is left to move the older children right in front to lead the other children left behind in marching in straight line. This is a little more complicated because in addition to using their left and right feet, they are also using their right and left hands, often holding them out right in front of them as they march. Sometimes an older child will be placed right in the back of the line to make sure that the younger kids aren’t left out of the formation and that no child is left behind. But sometimes the additional use of their left and right hands as well as their right and left feet will confuse the younger children left behind and they will start using their left as their right again instead of their left as their left. But in the time they have left, they will figure out that their left is their left again.

But as cute as all of these children might be as they learn their left from their right and their right from their left, I think there is one child left standing out as the cutest one of them all. If you think her name is Jennifer, you would be right.

Actually it worked out fairly well. The adults liked it as well as the children. My father-in-law wound up winning the prize (a $10 gift card). Of course, this puts pressure on me to come up with something better next year. :-)