In the Blink of an Eye…The air is filled with anticipation, excitement, nervous energy, it must be the first day of school. This year for me is very bittersweet. My youngest began his senior year of high-school today, I’m not really sure how that happened. So fresh in my memory is his first day of preschool, dressed in his khaki shorts, plaid shirt and his Sperry Topsiders, carrying his Hot Wheels backpack with a brand new hockey folder inside. I wondered if he would go willingly into school or look back to see if I was still standing there. He went very willingly and he never even glanced back. I remember feeling both relieved and a little sad. Fast forward 15 years to this morning, standing before me, all 6’1” of him, in his khakis, polo shirt, different Sperry’s, his old backpack and I’m not even sure if he had a folder in it, let alone a new one! I can’t say it was relief I felt, but sadness bubbled to the surface. It was quickly replaced by exasperation, when I struggled with him to grab one last first day of school picture, I managed to get a blurry one!
After he left it dawned on me, there would be no more summer assignments to harass him about, no more first day of school pictures, no more supply lists, no more permission slips, I filled out my last set of contact information papers; he would be the last one to take senior portraits and the list seemed to go on. Wow, it was a very surreal and emotional moment for me, I realized I am about to begin a new chapter in my life. As a parent, I anticipated my first child’s milestones, with my second child I was ready for them, with my youngest he arrived here…in the blink of an eye.
