The Mom's Book of Worries

Kindergarten parents I salute you! You wake from your beds an hour earlier than usual for days prior to school just to prepare your little one for the change. You find energy to prepare breakfast and pack lunches even though you were up late laying out clothes and double checking those backpacks.

And after all that exhaustion you stay as dry eyed as possible while watching your baby grow up before your eyes as he/she runs off to class without so much as a backward glance. You are amazing! I have always admired exceptional parents that are able to stay present in their children's lives. I just never knew what this experience felt like until now.

It hurts! It rips out your heart and then slams it back in larger than it was before and inflates it even more with an extra measure of pride and joy. And just when you think it will surely burst your bright eyed little one gives you that dashing smile and waves. Everything constricts back to normal and you go home to lick your wounds and wait for 4:00 o'clock.

 Our little man informed us the night before school that Daddy could go on to work, he was going to ride the bus. So we caved in and let him have that moment. We tagged along to school anyway and walked him from the bus to the school. O what we do for our precious charges! The rest of his school life has begun and his free run childhood has come to an end. I didn't cry in public or embarrass him too much. (I hope)

They really DO grow up too fast!