Monday, August 27, 2007

Kindergarten

New notebooks, markers, and pencils weigh down the noisy boys’ school bags as they excitedly march down the sidewalk, ahead of me and their dad and their baby brother. We walk the four blocks to school and join the throng of children and parents and cameras, all commemorating this first important day. Other Moms wipe their eyes, and I determine not to be one of them. I focus on the noisy boys—this is their day, not mine, and I truly am excited for them. This strategy works right up until the end, when they line up behind their respective teachers, and I notice that all of the other children are waving at their parents, while the noisy boys are completely focused on eachother, waving and calling out: “Goodbye A.!”
“Goodbye, B. Good luck!”

That’s when I lost it.

It’s also when I realized that separating them was a bigger deal than I expected it to be. And so it is. I am in new territory and it’s overwhelming, but God is here too. And I have a really, really big new calendar ready to hang on the wall.

7 comments:

hellolittlepeepers said...

Was that today already? Or Friday?

I still remember them in Kidstown in the 2's and 3's. They just hugged each other for dear life. I think one of them was crying so the other was comforting/protecting him. It was so stinkin' cute. They will learn good skills not being together. It is a good thing.

Llama Momma said...

Last Wednesday. This is the first FULL week. And, yes, they provide so much support to eachother, which is wonderful. But they were also "covering for eachother" much more than I realized. Meaning, they don't each KNOW what I thought they knew! :-)

FrazzMom said...

I have cried almost every year on the first day of school... Early on it was because they were growing up a little more with each grade. Later it was with joy that school had finally arrived and that the sibling, we've-been-together-too-much-over-the-summer-bickering would end!

Kindergarten is definately the toughest tho'...

Anonymous said...

I too have cried....every.day.of this.summer. I am so ready for school to start (Thursday), but on that first morning of Kindergarten for each of them I became homesick for them in a way that is inexplicable.

Craver Vii said...

Aaaaah, kindergarten. The smell of new pencils, crayolas, modeling clay and the complex scent of my teacher who always had a steaming-hot cup of coffee on her desk and wore heavy makeup and perfume which covered the almost subliminal smell of cigarettes. Good times.

spaghettipie said...

I can't even imagine this day for us. What a sweet, sweet time.

Llama Momma said...

Frazzmom -- I can relate to the "tears of joy," too!!

Jenny -- I'm glad it's not just me. I did not expect to cry on that first day. Everyone told me I'd cry at preschool, and I threw myself a happy little Starbucks party instead! ;-)

Craver -- Isn't it amazing how the memory of a smell can stay with you? It sounds like you had a doozie of a Kindergarten teacher.

SP -- It will be here before you know it. You will blink, and your girl will be off...