I always remember it raining on the first day of school. Even if we had a summer filled with nothing but sunny skies, as soon as September hit it would pour buckets, especially on the first day. Sure enough, yesterday was no exception. But the grey skies didn't put a damper on my kindergartner's spirits. She bounded down the hall with eager anticipation, not minding the squelch squirch squeak of our footsteps.
(Yousuf got more than a little soaked. Poor guy doesn't have any hair to absorb the rain, you know.)
And the rest, as they say, was history. She could barely sit still, wanting to explore the class, eat her snack, and basically you know, just get on with it, already. Especially when we posed for pictures and I almost suffocated her with the sheer desire of never wanting her to grow up:
Okay, mom. Enough, already.
In fact, the only person who had any major issues was little sister, who got grumpier and grumpier as the morning progressed. She felt slighted when she didn't get a morning snack and therefore tried to steal Inara's...
Nissa remained grumpy until the car, when she went straight into morose without any warning. I had no idea that it would affect her so deeply, but being without Big Sis was the most heartbreaking thing that had ever happened to her. She couldn't understand why we weren't going BACK to get Inara right away.
And to tell you the truth, I spent much of my day wondering the same thing. I spent the day puttering around, carrying Nissa and convincing her that Inara was okay (but I was really convincing myself), and half-wanting her school to call me to come and get her early. Thankfully, they never did. And when I went to go pick her up later that afternoon, she was SO proud of herself. She was The Champion Of Kindergarten, she said.
I have to agree with her assessment of the experience. Inara kicked all kinds of...well, you know what I mean. She didn't even MISS ME, that's how great of a day she had. Her teacher confirmed it all, which leads me to believe that she is now officially a Big Kid. Sniff, sniff, I'm trying very hard not to have "a moment" as I type that. We couldn't have asked for a better start, and I am so awed by how grown up she seems today. For today I am the mother of the Champion of Kindergarten. It's a big deal around these parts.
Aside: You will notice in the above picture, that my girlie is NOT wearing the nice black mary janes that we hunted all over the known universe for. Nay, instead, she insisted on wearing her old, treadless, beaten-up Fancy Nancy sneaks...and I let her. Because she is the Champion Of Kindergarten, and who am I to argue with that?
The night before the first day of school, Nissa was so forlorn. I had told her that Inara was going to school the next day and she vehemently shook her head at all of us insisting, "She NOT go to school tomowwow. Nanu stay HERE." Then, she walked over to Inara and held her hand while she looked up at her and said, "I miss you, Nanu. I miss you tomowwow."
Inara hugged her little sister very tightly and said to her in a soft voice, "I'm going to kindergarten now, Issie. I can't spend every day with you anymore. But I'll always come home to you. I promise."
Gawd, I thought to myself. Just kill me now.
This growing up thing is going to take some getting used to.
Thanks for all the wonderful comments, emails and messages, friends. I read every one and cherished every word. Thank you for going through this with me. I feel like we all sent my big girl off to school, together. xoxoxmahreen
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