This guy started middle school – 6th grade! – yesterday.
He didn’t seem overly nervous about it. Yes, he was a little anxious, declaring it seemed awkward to walk down to the end of the street by himself to catch the bus. (He actually has never ridden the bus to elementary school; I have always dropped him off until now. And for the record, there were other kids waiting for the bus; we just live at the end of the cul-de-sac so he has the ‘longest’ walk.) But by and large, he went through his usual morning routine – getting dressed (in his favorite”epic” t-shirt which is not even close to new), brushing his teeth, eating two bowls of Cheerios, and saying good-bye to Earl the pug – without any major stress that was noticeable.
His mom, however, was a different story. 😉
I held it together for him but I will admit there were tears at various points during the morning:
- Reading the note his dad wrote to him to start his day. (Teacher Man almost always leaves for his school before Joe is awake and has made it a tradition to write him a note with a corny joke every morning.) I actually pre-read the note on my own so I could cry first; then when Joe read it, I was fine.
- Watching him walk down the street to his bus – the first time I have never had to take him to any of his schools (daycare, KidKare, or elementary). The independence is good for him, of course, but it was still a little strange to have him leave the house while I could walk back inside, with a good 30+ minutes before I needed to leave for the office.
- And then getting this text from him.
Oh my goodness, I can hardly even type that without tearing up again.
Sigh.
I swear I’m not a helicopter parent. (Really!) But I woke up in the middle of the night, thinking about all the 3-ring binders he has for each class and how he hadn’t put the actual loose-leaf paper in any of them yet.
The things we moms think about at 2 a.m.
This was, by far, the most bittersweet transition for me as a mom. I remember being nervous about preschool – but not sad. Joe was so excited and ready for it! Ditto for kindergarten.
Middle school seems to prove that we go from preschool to sixth grade in a heartbeat. It’s not that Joe isn’t ready – he is and he’s excited to have all these new middle school options that await him. I think it’s just the idea that for parents, time keeps marching on ever so quickly – and probably, it’s magnified a little bit because he’s our only child. This is our first and last first day of middle school.
And for me, it’s a little bit foreign to go to such a large school. Joe has 1,350 kids in his middle school, while I went to the same building for elementary, junior high, and high school – and my graduating class of 37 kids was essentially the identical class of kindergartners (give or take a few changes) I got to know when I was 6 years old.
So I guess it’s all about me. Ha!
As I knew he would, Joe had a great first day of middle school. He made it to all his classes and reported that his history teacher was pretty cool (yes, Teacher Man smiled at that), his writing class shows real potential, and lunch was awesome – as lunch usually is.
I won’t mention that he forgot to text his mother at the end of the school day, after the bus dropped him off at home. (He gets home before I do now with his middle school schedule.) He also didn’t hear the approximately 4 texts and 3 phone calls (give or take) from said mother on his new cell phone, bought for the main purpose of making sure he connects with us every day after school.
We’re going to chalk that up to lessons learned.
Now we’re on to day two of middle school, and Earl the pug and I are getting used to being the last ones at home in the morning. It’s weird, but we’ll manage. 🙂
Lara
