The Wristband is No More!

   Some of you readers, if you've been keeping up with the past month or so, may remember this entry about the Purple Wristband.  For a short backstory, the kids did a Miles for Mission at their school and each group got a paper wristband and each lap they got a tally mark on their band.  4 days after the run, I wrote about Elijah and his odd desire to keep his band on.  Then, I found out that he and a little girl at school, Lauren, were in a competition to see who could keep it on the longest.  Okay, that was fine.  When Lauren's band came off, I expected his follow.  Nope. 
    Then, on the second-to-last day of school, I made up a game for his class party where each student received a paper that included a fun fact about every one in the class and they had to match the fact with the student.  I had one for every student BUT Elijah. Sadly, I could thinking of nothing strange or bizarre about him.  It was his teacher who finally came up with:  "This student still has not taken off Miles for Mission band." And of course everyone knew who it was and we all had a good laugh. Even when his teacher tried to snip it with her scissors, he hid it with his hand.
   Finally, finally, 45 days after the run around the track, Elijah's band has fallen off.  He tried putting it back on and wearing it to swim lessons but realized the futility in that and he had to finally give in.  I wish I had some moral to the story, or some great final message about what holding onto a paper wristband points to in Elijah's personality or his future, but I'm coming up with little.  The kid's got endurance, I guess, and a one-track-mind, I suppose, and a weird desire to hold onto things.  Whatever it is, let's just give thanks the dirty ring of paper is finally, safely off his wrist and put away.  No, not thrown away where it should be, but tucked away for a future scrapbook so if ever Elijah needs a reminder of his inner will, it'll be there. Gross and grey, but it'll be there.