Stella had her first day of kindergarten on Monday, and I’ve had several people ask me about how I’m feeling about all of this. I still remember the first day Zack and I dropped her off at her sweet little preschool when she was a spunky two-year-old girl; my eyes welled as we walked back to our car, and she was only going to be there for a couple of hours two mornings a week.
I thought I would be a goner as kindergarten approached. This would be the first time in Stella’s life that she would be at school for a full day, five days a week. From this point on, things weren’t going to be the same.
Yet Monday arrived and honestly, my mind was racing with all of the things we had to accomplish before getting out the door, the thoughts of making sure we arrived early so we could get a parking spot, all of these details, that I didn’t get emotional. And to be honest, Stella has been under such a sassy spell lately that the thought of her getting back into a school routine and not having her be my responsibility for a few hours felt like a weight being lifted.
Does that make me a bad mom? Because it’s hard to admit that I wasn’t clinging to her Monday morning, giggling with her over breakfast, and then gently doing her hair with ABBA’s “Slipping through my Fingers” playing in the background. Continue reading “The emotion and elation of the new school year”