I have a story I must tell.
One that may shock you... or not.
See there once was this girl, cute, fun personality, smart, and totally excited to start school. I may have added to that excitement by reminding her she was going to start her first day of school every day for at least 7 days before she actually "started" school.
Me: "Aren't you so excited to be a big girl and go to your Big Brother's school!"
PeePs: "Mom, I'm 5, not 2. But I'm so excited!!! Yay me!" As she jumps up and down clapping her hands.
See here where I live they tease Kindergarten-ers. They say, "Today you start school! Well you kinda do. You get to come and meet your teacher and sign up for a day that you can test and we can see where you fit and watch your progression through the year. So you don't actually go to school, no, you just meet your teacher and then come back later that week to test. Then NEXT week you get to start school."
So we did that. We had her meet her teacher... she tested (she rocked it-and teacher was somewhat worried she might be bored-but we are going to play that by ear...) Then we patiently waited for the day she would actually get to go to CLASS and LEARN.
Proud Mom fact and a bit of a sidenote: I should tell you that my daughter has this incredible drive to learn. Everyday she makes her Grandma sit with her (I can't because I'm at work) and do "homework" with her. And I'm not just talking 10-15 minutes worth, no, I'm talking an hour and a half later her Grandma is firmly telling her she has to stop for the day-where my daughter is none-to-happy about it. I don't know where this drive comes from, but I'm not about to worry about it.
So back to the story: Monday this week rolls around and my daughter and I get her dressed for her FIRST day of school.
Keep these images in your mind... they may break your heart later.
So as you can see. She was ready and excited to start BIG GIRL school. And I'm telling you... like DisneyLand excited!
It's 10 minutes until her first day of school should start and I grab her hand and we head out the door, to brave the heat, and walk to her school.
As we approach her school and the area where the Kindergarten kids meet I start to notice something is wrong.
Where are all the parents?
As I'm running off of fumes because I had little sleep the night before, I just shrug it off and we head to her classroom door.
Just as we are about to open the door her Kindergarten teacher opens it and looks at me, a bit surprised, (her Kindergarten teacher, BTW, is a friend of mine, we worked as lifeguards together), she says "Hi" and hesitantly shuts the door.
I sit there, befuddled for a moment.
Is my daughter late? Is she teaching me a lesson?
I look at my phone and we are one minute early. That is WAY on time for me.
Hmmmm... maybe she is still getting things ready...
I look around the area... WHERE IS ALL THE PARENTS? It was just me and another lady (who I found out through polite conversation didn't speak much English) smiling at each other and looking away.
My friend, my daughters Kindergarten teacher, pokes her head out the door and has a super huge smile on her face... like the smile you have right before you are about to laugh, and says, "Shelle, did you know that school doesn't actually start until Wednesday?" bwahahahaha... hahahaha... holding her stomach, bending over laughing, and she sees the light bulb go off in my head, "we are still testing until Wednesday." hahahahahahaha... still can't breathe, she is bending over laughing at me. "Shelle!" heave, breathe, heave, laugh, heave, breathe, "you haven't changed a bit!"
I'm feeling totally embarrassed and dumb right now, even though the only audience to this faux pas is me, the teacher, my daughter, a few other first graders playing on the play ground, and the cute non-english speaking lady.
And when I feel embarrassed I laugh. And when I laugh, I cry.
When I could breathe again... and she could breathe again, and I grab my daughter and start walking away I say over my shoulder, "You know this won't be the only time something like this happens!"
The End.
This story is based on a true story.
So today we try again. TODAY she is going to her actual first day of school! We didn't take pictures again because she looks exactly like she did in the pictures above.
Love,
