Wednesday, September 5, 2007


My babies are growing quickly. Just when I thought we've accomplished all of the "firsts," along comes...The first day of school.

Sure. Bring it on. I had this one down cold. Both of my daughters have been in daycare since they were each six weeks old. Today will be just a little different. OK. Maybe not. It was a lot different. New morning routine, new location, new kids, new EVERYTHING!

Well. I was still determined to hold it together. OK. Again, maybe not. By the time Macy was settled into her tiny little chair in her brand new classroom, and I was done obsessing about every single thing that had a name tag with "Macy" written on it, I took a deep breath and walked over to Macy's tiny space she could call her own and crouched down to her level. "OK, baby, give me a kiss, I have to leave now." She lays a wet one on my puckered lips and returns her attention to focus on her coloring assignment. I quickly turn away and begin walking so that she couldn't see the tears welling up in my eyes. Then I hear, "I'll see you later today, OK, Mama?" Taking another deep breath to force the tears to stop from flooding my vision, I turn my head and quickly nodded, smiled, and whispered an exaggerated "OK, bye!" as I continued briskly to walk out of this classroom. The Class of 2020.

Trying so hard NOT to look like the mom who just dropped off her now "official" kindergartner, I kept my eyes down and focused on getting out of the school so that I could fall apart in solitude.