First Day of School -- a mom's perspective

Acknowledged:  this post is a week overdue.  The moment may be overwith and gone, but the memory's still there, so I still have the right to blog about it.  Booya.

August 23 
       It was 6:17 AM.  I yawn.  I stretch.  Then I pause.  I notice my stomach is tied in knots.  Why? I ask myself.  Where is the peace and calm I felt last night as we all got ready for the first day of school? 
       Perhaps all parents feel some anxiety on that first day.  Especially kindergarten.  This marks the beginning!  The beginning of the rest of their 18 years with school routines, teachers, and peers.  Sure, it's exciting, and sure I realize that I'm soon going to join the entourage of minivans doing carpools and soccer pickups and running forgotten lunches to school with heartshaped I Love Yous embarassingly scribbled on brown paper bags. 
       But this day also marks the end...The end of the "formative years" , as experts calimed the first 5 years of a child's life are the most important.  But now they're over.  Today's the first day of school.  I had my chance to teach and mold, and now I'm sending him off.  Perhaps the knots in my stomach at 6:17 AM that morning was my secret plea for more time, wondering if I had done enough, if I had done my best, if I were ready.
       But, as it was, today was THE day, so I got out of bed and left to begin getting ready.  True to my 5-yr promise, I would start making hot breakfasts as soon as my kids were in school, and I had full intents to follow through.  It was now 6:20 AM.  A tiny sneeze outside my bathroom door let me know I wasn't the only one awake. 

       I opened my bedroom door to discover Carter standing there, bright-eyed, and with a huge smile on his face!  He was all dressed in his school outfit picked out the night before, back pack on, hair combed.  He, for one, was Ready!
       I knelt down and gave him a BIG HUG!  I knew we had nothing to fear!

   So, off we go on our new life.  Our new routine.  Our new phase of Mom with school-aged kids.  Off we go.  And if anyone knows how to renew more time on those formative years as if renewing a late library book, let me know.