Back to School:

My youngest daughter starts her senior year

Even though my three kids are long out of kindergarten, I still remember the first day of school with all of them. I bribed Connor with a toy car wash that used real water. When he washed his Match Box cars, the water went all over the floor, but it was worth it. He went to school for a couple of days almost cheerfully, until a kid hit him on the side of the head with a carpet square.

In his kindergarten mind, “going to school” meant only a couple of days. He was finished after that. When I broke the news to him that school went on and on for many, many days, he was shocked. He had been duped by his own parents. He did make it through all the many, many days of school — even college — and is now gainfully employed with a company in Dallas.

Anna entered kindergarten happily, even after being a preschool drop-out, which I won’t go into here. Let’s just say that she was a very intelligent and thoughtful child who missed her mom. I dropped her off at the kindergarten door, and she confidently walked in on her sturdy little legs, wearing her bright blue Eisenhower polo. Then I went to get donuts in the cafeteria to cry with the other moms who were having a hard time separating from their kids. I’m grateful to the PTA for providing a space for us to stay at the school, so we wouldn’t be hanging out around the kindergarten classroom for a couple of hours. Anna did mention at the end of the day that for some reason she couldn’t understand her teacher, but I said that all kindergarten teachers speak Spanish and she would learn soon enough. In a couple of weeks, she’ll be going back to college to start her sophomore year.

Mary, my youngest, wakes up to a bright and shiny new day every day. In other words, she is a master of denial, which does come in handy. She was fine going to kindergarten until she started having “accidents.” Her teacher wanted to know if “something” was going on at home. I couldn’t think of anything. She was potty trained really early and never had any accidents. Finally, I asked Mary about why she wasn’t using the bathroom at school. Evidently, she had seen a giant bug in there and was not about to go back in. Problem solved.

Mary is starting her senior year tomorrow. I still think of her as that little kindergartener with the blonde braids. From experience, I know this year will go by WAY too fast, but I also know it will be a fun year. You parents out there with seniors know what I mean.