Teen to Mom: 'Nothing Exciting Ever Happens'

Last week my 13-year-old son said to me, "I like Kirkwood but nothing exciting ever happens here."

Um, what?!

In my opinion, we have had a bit too much excitement in Kirkwood.  Way too much.  Our little town within a big town has made the national news more than once in the past 5 years, and for big headline crimes.  We have had a lot of "excitement" to deal with.

Even last fall, the campaign for in Kirkwood raised many questions about money and how our school board makes decisions.  This became an extremely divisive issue, with letter-writing campaigns to our cities newspaper with name-calling and mudslinging.  Too much excitement.

This past Monday I was very excited, however, and in a good way, to attend the first elementary school groundbreaking for the new construction because of the passing of . This construction (as many families of Robinson agree) is absolutely necessary.  My kids attended for all six of their elementary years, Kindergarten through 5th grades.  The school will get a new library.  The current library is unbelievably small.  They will get additional classroom space.  This is much needed as students, including my own, often met in makeshift classrooms that were closets less than 10 square feet.  The pick-up and drop-off area will be moved to the rear of the building, a much-needed improvement to remove it from busy Couch Avenue which is shared with the community college.  These are only a few of the vast improvements that will improve this very old building.

The enthusiasm could be felt in the air as students donned hardhats and grabbed shovels to initiate the groundbreaking.  Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought about the families that started , and broke ground in 1929.  Their has been only one major renovation to the building since then, I believe in the 1950s.  A collective sigh of relief was heard last November when Prop 1 passed with a 60% majority, especially from all those parents that worked tirelessly to get out the vote for our community's children.

Recently the city of Joplin had too much excitement in the form of tornado sirens, and then actual tornados.  The death count in Joplin is currently at 120.  I had my kids go through their closets this morning and told them to grab their 5 least-worn or least-favorite shirts and shorts. After a stop at Target to pick up some diapers to donate, I am going to head to the .  Highway 61 Roadhouse is a great restaurant (the cream-corn souffle is to die for) and they have employees making a trip to Joplin today (Wednesday) at 1 pm to drop off the donations.  I noticed at my stop at Crestwood Starbucks for my green tea this morning they are accepting donations, also, like many businesses around town.

Excitement can be a good thing but can also bring negative attention and even devastation to nice towns like Kirkwood and Joplin.   My hope for the next year is that the only excitement I see here in Kirkwood will be watching the progress of the new addition go up as I walk my pug and kids past Robinson Elementary...and I will happily agree with my son next time, "Yes, nothing exciting happens here."