Tuesday, August 26, 2008

First day

Today, I sent two children off to public school; a kindergartner and a 2nd grader. How do I feel about this? Well, I hadn't really thought about it until Saturday, when I went to see "Mama Mia" at the movie theater. I will always remember sitting in our dining room as a little girl listening to the group, Abba....liking them because my mom liked them. So there I was, sitting in the movie theater when the emotional scene comes on where the mom is helping the daughter get ready for her wedding. I had never heard the song "Slipping through my fingers" before, but that is what did it for me. It's not that I feel like Ann-Marie is slipping through my fingers, entering kindergarten, but that the seasons I thought would never end while I was in them (infancy, toddler, preschool) slipped through my fingers. So sitting there in the movie theater with tears running down my face, I felt two things: the sadness of knowing that my mom would have really liked to be there for this and the loss of the preschool season in the second of my children. I think the following lyrics really got to me:

"Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see whats in her mind
Each time I think I'm close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture
And save it from the funny tricks of time
Slipping through my fingers..."
And here's my big 2nd grader with his new shoes! Aren't they sharp?

And little Ann-Marie coming off the big school bus at noon.

To my MOPS friends who still have a few years until their children become school-agers: it does come fast and treasure these days (even in the midst of the mundane). To my Mom mentors who have older children: keep the advice, support and encouragement coming because I seem to need more and more the older my children get.

3 comments:

April Emery said...

oh i cannot even imagine the sadness of seeing your little baby head off to school ... i have a lump in my throat just thinking about what it was like for you today ... days like this make you really treasure the moments you have while you can, huh? what cute kids you have!! so they got off to school okay ... did they have a good day?

Anonymous said...

Oh Paula,
I understand - I really do ... Mothering is so bittersweet! This is my 19th year (as well as my last) of sending a child off school - next year I will be dropping my last off at college. I understand your emotions and am so glad that you are aware of how fast each season of mothering really is.
much love,
sandy

Tatertot said...
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