Beating the drum

As a lot of you already know, when my daughter started school we made the decision to not go to the local school (about a 10 minute walk away), but go to the next closest school (about an 8 minute drive away). The decision was made purely on the fact that there were no other children starting school that year
and therefore she would have been in a class on her own. Most of the
time I still believe that we made the correct decision, but very occasionally I feel sad that we are not able to be involved more with the few children that actually live in our tiny hamlet. The main time is the annual bon-dancing where most of the community gets together to farewell the ancestors who have been back to visit. The children from the local school all play the drum, but our children have never been able to do so (only because they haven't been taught it). However, this year my husband has been working with a few others to help any children who want to learn the drumming each Saturday night and this year they both played the drums with the local children, talked with them and played with them for the first time. It was probably the first time they felt really involved in the community and they had a great night.
I personally get sick of dancing around in a circle after the first 10 minutes or so and was happy when the night was over! Mind you we did come home with 2 boxes of glad wrap, 2 drink bottles, 2 chilly-bins and about 15 sponges for washing the dishes so I guess I shouldn't complain too much!