My oldest is now a kindergarten graduate. What a school year she’s had!
I think back to last August, when she got her new kindergarten gear, and I started waking her early to prepare her for that first day.
I remember her excitement when she came home, showing off artwork and singing new songs.
Then came the adjustment challenges. My husband will never forget those stressful morning car rides when tears fell and she complained of her stomach and neck hurting, and he wondered whether or not he should turn around and bring her back home. Almost every time, he managed to talk her down. Once or twice, I got a call 15 minutes after drop off that she had tossed her cookies (or, in this case, breakfast) and needed to be picked up.
I remember the pep talks I gave her, pointing out all the “sames” in her day [1], and how proud I was of her for tackling the “differents.”
And my husband won’t forget the first time he came to pick her up from after school care, and she didn’t want to leave her activities and new friends.
Yes, those early days stretched our parenting skills and our hearts.
Then when we figured that we finally had it figured out, Covid hit.
I think of the email from her principal the evening of March 12, informing us that school would be closed the following day, and likely stay closed for several weeks.
Three weeks turned into eleven. My husband and I shifted from parents of a child in school to homeschooling parents.
I remember my daughter crying after Zoom meetings with her class [2], overwhelmed at the sight of her classmates and the teacher she loves. I remember needing to find an extra two hours in my day to work with her. Somehow, God made it happen.
I think of how diligent she was about her assignments each day. What a blessing to raise our hardworking daughter. I marveled at how quickly she caught on to the process of taking a snapshot of her work and uploading it, then checking later for comments from her teacher.
I remember hitting our stride. This was really happening. We were getting the work done. Emotions weren’t running so high. We were having fun…honestly, a lot of fun! And her two younger sisters were learning plenty in the process.
And I’m not likely to forget our trip to school together last week. We had a 10 minute time slot to pick up her journal, gym shoes, and the graduation cap that her teacher had made.
Her amazing teacher even had some cute photo ops set up, like the giant 2020 balloons. She also pulled together a Zoom videoconference graduation ceremony.
Of course, our spotty Internet failed us during the giving of diplomas. We ended up needing to reboot, and finally got back on the video call just as they were wrapping up. Her teacher kindly read her name again, so that my husband could give her the diploma, and her classmates could clap for her. When my daughter saw and heard her teacher, principal, and all her friends clapping, her face lit up. It was a precious moment.
We celebrated today by getting takeout from “Clovers,” one of her favorite restaurants. The girls ate their corn dogs and grilled cheese in the car.
Then we had a little picnic at our church playground to enjoy our ice cream.
I brought my daughter’s graduation cap, and a special gift she made. The day that she and I collected her cap and belongings from school, she excitedly told my husband and me that she had a present us. We opened a gift bag that she had procured herself from my stash under my bed. We plucked out half a dozen sheets of tissue paper, and pulled out two paper plates taped to white pieces of computer paper, each with a strand of purple ribbon hanging down.
Yes, they were graduation caps, one marked “Mom,” and the other, “Dad.”
How fitting.
What a school year my husband and I have had! And, now, I can proudly say that we have graduated as well.
