A Rainbow Bright Beginning

On Wednesday, the school year began. We all went off together, to Dalton. The school that was once mine, to the school that made me. I trailed behind my creatures, my hands shaky with love and nostalgia. They are mine, I thought. This is my life.

On Tuesday, there were back-to-school haircuts for my big girls. They walked on ahead of me and I glimpsed them as teenagers. I also saw other things: Sisters. Best friends.

They got new back packs on Wednesday afternoon and were excited to wear them yesterday which was Little Girl's first day of her second year of preschool.

I dropped her off and got her settled and assumed the teacher would want us to stay for the first day, but no. Get a coffee and come back, she suggested, so I gave my babe a kiss and went out into the sunshine. There was no clinging. No tears. All a good thing, but then why the subtle sadness? I picked her up and she was beaming. She made a beautiful painting. In the corner of the page: her name. My baby can write her name. She insisted we go shopping for Scotch tape so we could hang her art on the fridge. We did. It's on the fridge.

On Tuesday, the girls spotted a rainbow stripe on the sidewalk near school. We figured out that it was created by sunshine through a glass canopy on a nearby building. I would never have noticed it, but they are young and their eyes are wide open. And so we stopped and spent a little time with this rainbow. And I thought to myself, This is a wonderful omen for the year to come.

And it is.

Note to self, and to you: Life is life. It will have its storms and its clouds, but my goodness, there will also be swatches of blue sky and even unexpected slices of rainbow.

Cling to these moments. These times of blue and rainbow. Memorize them. Tuck them away. Trot them out. Say thank you.

Thank you.

Have a great weekend, guys!