It was my first child's first day of school. I realized I hadn't written anything in this blog for a while due to the fact certain things keep getting in the way, like life and hurricanes. Making a living and spending as much free moments as I can with my growing family is a huge time killer. Way down on the priority list is time alone to write a blog and free time with good friends (they're good friends, so they understand my lack of availability).
It was a half-day, more like an hour day - from 10AM till 11AM. Chloe’s first day of school was a milestone for her and me. This milestone marks the time in her life when the first part of her journey is just beginning, and bookends my own. I remembered my own first day. Mine wasn't pre-school, it was kindergarten, but the feeling was there the same. It was a marker in time that says something about growing up. The endless summer was over. This marker spoke to the first few hours of a young life. Will Chloe remember it? It is uncertain. For I really only remember a few things here and there. A smile from my teacher, her hairstyle, the huge bay windows that loomed like giants over our small class. A little girl named Hiedi, I wrapped my legs around during an Indian style crossing of the legs learning session (she was very annoyed by me). I have a group shot of our class that year. I haven't looked at it in years but I remember what I was wearing. A black T-shirt. And I vaguely remember what it was like posing for that photo.
As a parent I want what is "best for my kids" of course, but most importantly I want to instill upon them a sense of adventure. That School is not a chore to be reckoned with, but a wondrous mission whose journey will take them to the roads of life less traveled. An ever-changing adventure. I want to get them to college and from there, they can take themselves to the moon and beyond.
Chloe was great and really took to her new classmates. After school she played in the playground area awhile and befriended a boy about her age. I befriended the mothers and exchanged parenting war stories. They assured me that this pre-school was the best around and preps kids for kindergarten like no other.
The world is marked by a milestone in history this week in which Huricane Katrina's destruction is in all the news and hearts of a nation, and in a microcosmos, a little girl named Chloe starts pre-school for the first time that very same week.
Don't know my point, really. Maybe something of the order like; think global, but act local.
