All Grown Up

It's official. We have a school age child. There were a few tears on the first day of school...and mommy wasn't the only one that had to grab a tissue.

Alexis really wanted to go to school with "Keisha". As soon as we told her she had to learn to use the potty and be a big girl before she could go to school, the tears started falling. She did great when we walked Kendra in and left, but as soon as we pulled away, she was concerned that Kendra didn't come with us. The tears fell again...and again when she realized she was going to daycare with her big sis. We all have some adjusting to do!

Kendra, however, was happy and excited. She couldn't wait to get there and start school! She had picked out her outfit long ago, so dressing went fairly quickly. We even had time to pick some jewelry. I can't count how many times she asked, "How do I look, Mommy?" Of course, she looked beautiful.

I think there may have been some nerves as we walked to her classroom, but once inside, they quickly diminished. She was eager to join her new friends! She impatiently posed for a couple pictures before eagerly joining her classmates.

It was a great day for her. She was disappointed that she didn't have any homework on her first day of school. Something tells me this excitement will slowly dwindle.

I did pretty good. There was an essay that popped up on my Facebook page that morning. It is so fitting for our little girl, and I teared up twice...when I read it myself, and then when I read it to Justin. I did pretty good when we dropped her up. I teared up as we walked away from her, and cried when I got home...but just a little. She's so grown up, and her infant and toddler days seem like they were so long ago.

Here is the essay I read that morning. Grab a tissue...it's a tear jerker.

I TRUST YOU'LL TREAT HER WELL
The story of a girl's first day of school

World, I bequeath to you today one little girl in a crispy dress, with two blue eyes, and a happy laugh that ripples all day long, and a batch of light blonde hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs. I Trust You'll Treat Her Well.

She's slipping out of the backyard of my heart this morning and skipping off down the street to her first day at school.

And never again will she be completely mine...

Prim and proud, she'll wave a young and independent hand this morning, and say goodbye and walk with little-lady steps to the nearby schoolhouse...

Gone will be the chattering little hoyden who lived only for play, and gone will be the delightful little gamin who roamed the yard like a proud princess with nary a care in her little world.

Now, she will learn to stand in lines...and wait by the alphabet for her name to be called...

She will learn to tune her little-girl ears for the sound of school bells, and for deadlines...

She will learn to giggle and gossip...and to look at the ceiling in a disinterested way when the little boy across the aisle sticks out his tongue.

Now she will learn to be jealous...and now she will learn how it is to feel hurt inside...and now she will learn how not to cry. No longer will she have time to sit on the front porch steps on a summer day and watch while an ant scurries across a crack in the sidewalk...

Or will she have time to pop out of bed with the dawn to kiss lilac blossoms in the morning dew. Now she will worry about important things...like grades...and what dresses to wear...and whose best friend is whose. Now she will worry about the little boy who pulls her hair at recess time... and staying after school...and which little girls like which little boys...and the magic of books and knowledge will soon take the place of the magic of her blocks and dolls.

And she'll find her new heroes. For five full years I've been her sage and Santa Claus...her pal and playmate...her parent and friend. Now, alas, she'll learn to share her worship and adoration with her teachers (which is only right).

No longer will her parents be the smartest and greatest in the world. Today, when the first school bell rings, she'll learn how it is to be a member of the group...with all its privileges, and, of course, its disadvantages, too.

She'll learn in time that proper young ladies don't laugh out loud...or keep frogs in pickle jars in bedrooms...or watch ants scurry across the cracks in a summer sidewalk...

Today, she'll begin to learn for the first time that all who smile at her are not her friends. That "the group" can be a demanding mistress... and I'll stand on the porch and watch her start out on the long, long journey to becoming a woman.

So WORLD, I BEQUEATH TO YOU TODAY ONE LITTLE GIRL in a crispy dress, with two blue eyes, a happy laugh that ripples all day long, and a batch of light blonde hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs.

I TRUST YOU'LL TREAT HER WELL.

By Dan Valentine

From the book "American Essays: Sentimental Classics Designed to Make the Heart Sing"

I pray this world treats my baby K well.