First Day of School

The parents were more anxious than the kindergarteners.  The children understood, for the most part, the need to stand in line and say goodbye .  The parents were trying to hold back the tears.

I found myself hugging more mommies than 5 year olds.  My heart was with them, as I remembered wailing into the phone to Seret as Little Cuter went off on her own for the first time.  I remember telling the teacher that she could tie her own shoes (why would she care?) and more, I remember the teacher's hug as she heard me.  She didn't care about the shoes, she cared about me and my breaking heart.

So, I hugged the mommies who were teary and the daddies who were being very brave.  I hugged the little ones wearing special First Day of School shoes and t-shirts and carrying backpacks bigger than their backs. Elsa and Anna (the Frozen princesses for those of you out of the What's Cool in Kinder loop) were everywhere, as was Paw Patrol - on shoes, on sparkly backpacks, on shirts.  Shyly, the kids noticed others who loved the same licensed products; the connections were tenuous, but they were forming.

I gave out stickers, introduced myself to newbies and received hugs from older kids who presented me to their siblings.  "This is Grandma Suzi.  She reads us stories and gives us stickers.  She's nice.  You'll like her."  My life at Prince in a nutshell.

I escorted wondering families to the big bulletin boards with the class lists.  I held students' hands as their parents ran back to the car for one last piece of documentation.  G'ma and Daddooooo wouldn't have waited until the first bell rang to begin the paperwork process, but judging didn't get the line moving any faster so I forswore the temptation and moved on, outside, where the big kids had already been corralled into their classrooms, and the kindergarten parents were having a difficult time separating themselves from their young.

As cameras snapped and parents cried, the teachers led their lines into the building.

 Some lines were more orderly than others,

but everyone managed to get where they were going.

Someone wet his pants; the teacher had a plastic bag waiting for the soiled laundry.Someone walked to the front from her place in the middle; Stay in line was said for the first time this school year, but not for the last.  

The lobby was calm when I left at 8 o'clock.  The classroom doors were closed, the kids were on the carpet or at their desks, the teachers were in charge.  Grandma will be around with stickers and hugs and stories and gardening .  Not every school has a Grandma - I am as lucky as they are to be the one for Prince.