Back to School

After a two and one-half week break, Kaia went back to school at Kids Central today. It seems like so long ago that we first took him there and all of the anxiety that accompanied that event. Today was so smooth—no tears, no clinging, just a brief wave bye-bye and off he went. Since it was a new term, there were a few new children in the group and you could certainly tell who they were. Just as I was exiting the school, I saw a mother whom I had briefly met last week bringing in her son (born on May 20, one day before Kaia) into Kids Central for the first time. He was, predictably, wailing and wrapped tight around his mother and she looked even worse than he did. She had told me when we spoke that this would be the first time that he was going ‘to school’, so she was concerned about how it would go. From the looks of things—not well to begin with. I don’t long for those days, but it is fascinating how quickly the human condition adapts and moves forward. All of the sadness and nostalgia I felt leading up to that day, and how it really gripped me, has gone into hibernation for the time being and now it is just a regular ol’ thing to drop him off. Of course, this is just a warm up act for all of the other significant detachments—first day at ‘real’ school, when he chooses friends over papa, adolescence, off to college…

Why I Love this Time: The day before yesterday, he was walking with a cup of water to bring to me and tripped, spilling the water all over the tile floor. He was so sad, because he was so proudly bringing it for me to drink, and immediately dropped to the floor and sobbed. As I comforted him and told him that it was OK and he could get papa another cup of water, through his sobs he said, “sorry, papa”. It was one of the most touching moments of my entire life.