Emma + Kindergarten = Tears

It came, and thank goodness it went. But not without a tear - or two, or three.....I have been dreading Emma's first day of Kindergarten for quite awhile now. I'm still not sure why. I am generally not an emotional person. I like to view the glass as half full. I enjoy seeing my children grow and learn and become independent. But, for some reason, Emma going to school yesterday just tugged at my heart.

She woke up early, before the boys, and came padding into our bathroom. The image will be with me forever. She was wearing her satin princess gown, her eyes were still puffy and sleepy-looking and the back of her hair looked like a lion's mane having a bad day. It's a sight that I see every morning. But this morning it hit me that in just a blink of an eye my little princess would be a moody teenager that no one would want to be around.

I want to soak up every bit of her littleness that I can, while I can. The reality of it though is that my time with her is now limited. I just hope and pray that everything that Allan and I have tried to instill upon her up to this point, will continue to stay with her.

And so began my day, with these thoughts and many more that I simply do not have time to type right now. I had to explain to Allan why I was being such a moody, nasty person. This of course, started the first of many tears. I dried them up and put on a happy face to start the first day of school. Emma and Will enjoyed our traditional First Day breakfast of Green Eggs and Ham. When we got upstairs to wake Jack and finish getting ready, I was welcomed with a "good morning, Mommy. I'm wet all over." Urghhhhhhhhhhh! This was not in my morning plans, but I put on a smile and took care of the mess and quickly bathed Jack so we could take our FDOS pictures. The pictures went well and we were off to the school. I decided I wouldn't walk Emma in. Thank goodness! I was crying (again) as I pulled away and watched Will holding Emma's hand, walking into that suddenly unfriendly looking school. Then, I saw Emma's best friend and her mom walking through the parking lot. I stopped to say hello and actually only managed a wave before more tears started flowing.

I called Allan as soon as I got home and cried again. Then, I called Nana, and cried again. What the heck?! I decided to get a grip and get down to business of stopping this blubbering. Jack and I ran to the fabric store to buy thread and ended up with more project supplies to keep me busy (like I really have a problem staying busy!). We got an oil change and then it was time to see Will and Emma get off the bus. FINALLY!

Both kids got off grinning from ear to ear, full of happy stories from their first day back. I felt a tear coming on, but I just smiled and told myself that everyone is going to be just fine. And we are.