Going Forth Unafraid

You see this creature? She is my oldest babe. Big Girl. And today she starts Kindergarten.

She doesn't just start Kindergarten, but she starts Dalton. My school. My school that is now hers, too. She will have the beloved teacher who taught my youngest sister almost twenty years ago. The same teacher who taught both of my nephews. What an absolutely wonderful, and meaningful, way to begin.

Oddly, I am not anxious. This could be because I am still steeped in a profound and padding denial. Or it could be that I know this school and I know what it did for me. I know what it will do for her, how it will accept her for who she is today and who she becomes tomorrow, how it will absorb her into its unique and incomparable ecosystem of love and learning. At Dalton, she will learn, she will love, she will live.

Big Girl doesn't seem anxious either. Just excited. Just curious.

The truth is that there is probably some fear there, here. For her. For me. For all of us. But that is okay and appropriate because this is big, this step, this September day. And on this September day, I feel happy and overwhelmed and nostalgic. On this day, I feel fortunate and optimistic and alive.

More than anything though, on this day, I feel privileged. Not just to be a mom. But to be her mom. Not just to be sending my child to a good school, but to this school.

My school.

Her school.

Good luck today, my little Tiger.

Did you love your school(s)? Do you have any particular memories of sending your kids to Kindergarten, or even beginning it yourself? Any words of wisdom for this rookie mom of a Kindergartener?