Once upon
a time there was a little boy named Jack who was about to climb his very
first beanstalk. He had a fresh haircut and a brand-new book bag. Even
though his friends in the neighborhood had climbed this same beanstalk
almost every day last year, this was Jack's first day and he was a little
nervous. So was his mother. Early in the morning she brought him to the
foot of the beanstalk. She talked encouragingly to Jack about all the fun
he would have that day and how nice his giant would be. She reassured him
that she would be back to pick him up at the end of the day. For a moment
they stood together, silently holding hands, gazing up at the beanstalk.
To Jack it seemed much bigger than it had when his mother had pointed it
out on the way to the store last week. His mother thought it looked big,
too. She swallowed. Maybe she should have held Jack out a year.... Jack's
mother straightened his shirt one last time, patted his shoulder and
smiled down at him. She promised to stay and wave while he started
climbing. Jack didn't say a word. He walked forward, grabbed a low-growing
stem and slowly pulled himself up to the first leaf. He balanced there for
a moment and then climbed more eagerly to the second leaf, then to the
third and soon he had vanished into a high tangle of leaves and stems with
never a backward glance at his mother. She stood alone at the bottom of
the beanstalk, gazing up at the spot where Jack had disappeared. There was
no rustle, no movement, no sound to indicate that he was anywhere inside.
"Sometimes," she thought, "it's harder to be the one who waves good-bye
than it is to be the one who climbs the beanstalk." She wondered how Jack
would do. Would he miss her? How would he behave? Did his giant understand
that little boys sometimes acted silly when they felt unsure? She fought
the urge to spring up the stalk after Jack and maybe duck behind a bean to
take a peek at how he was doing. "I'd better not. What if he saw me?" She
knew Jack was really old enough to handle this on his own. She reminded
herself that, after all this was thought to be an excellent beanstalk and
that everyone said his giant was not only kind but had outstanding
qualifications. "It's not so much that I'm worried about him," she
thought, rubbing the back of her neck. "It's just that he's growing up and
I'm going to miss him." Jack's mother turned to leave. "Jack's going to
have lots of bigger beanstalks to climb in his life," she told herself.
"Today's the day he starts practicing for them... And today's the day I
start practicing something too: cheering him on and waving good-bye."
-----------author unknown
