Another School Year Starts

Friends,

Another school year begins.

 

We have a 4th grader,

and a first grader.

 

I can't even believe it!

 

4th grade was one of my favorite

grade school years.

 

I had a remarkable teacher

and I started to learn

who I was

and what I was good at.

 

I was the only girl to climb to the top

of the rope in gym class.

 

I won a poetry contest.

 

I read "Where the Red Fern Grows",

and cried,

solidifying myself,

as a life long reader.

 

I attended my first dance.

A Sadie Hawkins dance.

 

Gabe asked me to be his partner,

before I had a chance to ask him,

which kinda takes the whole

"Sadie Hawkins" part out of it.

 

No worries,

I had the most beautiful date in the room

and we square danced our tails off.

 

I can't wait to see what 4th grade

holds for Lily.

 My first grader.

She finally lost some teeth.

 

Her smile reminds me

every day

that she is growing up,

and no longer a baby.

 

Charlotte started a new school.

She was very brave.

 

We both shed one tear as

she reluctantly let go of my hand,

and followed her class into the building.

 

She reported back,

after school that she had

"no tears"

once she got inside.

 

I said, I had "one tear",

when we said good bye,

and then "no tears" too.

 

I was lying.

 

I applaud her courage.

 

I was tearful and anxious

all day long.

 

Don't get me wrong,

I am thrilled to have the girls

back in school and on schedule.

 

I am thrilled to have

Fridays to myself again.

 

I punch my fist in the air

and yelp out a "whoohoo!"

about back to school. 

 

Its just the first day

of my baby in first grade

in a brand new school

gets me a little emotional. 

 

I have to trust

that the staff and the students

will watch over her with

love and kindness.

 

I have to trust,

that I have given her

the tools, she needs,

to navigate her day without me.

 

Tears, Friends!

That kinda thing brings me to tears.