Life is never the same from one day to the next, but on some days you realize it more than others. Bev Woodruff reflects on the first day of school and what that means for her now as a grandmother. Read more from Bev on her blog.
Recently, school started for students in our local school district. Since my youngest child is now 31 years old I didn’t expect to have any feelings about it one way or the other, but I did.
On the first day of school, as I drove by the local elementary school I realized for the first time in a long time, I had no family there. This year, my granddaughter started sixth grade at the local middle school. That school is located six miles from our home. The elementary school is a mile down the road from our farm. It is along my normal route when I go to just about anywhere.
Now if the students are at recess when I pass by, there will be no grandchild to look for in the school yard. When I thought about that, a tear came to my eye. With a quick shake of my head I refused to become a blubbering woman. I should point out, I’m usually not a “cry at the drop of a hat” type woman. Having said that I should also say I do have my moments and they are usually unexpected.
The elementary school has been special to my family for generations, and it will continue to be so. Beginnings there have been emotional, and sometimes they weren’t expected. Many years ago when my daughter, the oldest child, started kindergarten it was an emotional time. I expected that. What I didn’t expect was the impact taking my youngest to school would have.
Four years after my daughter started kindergarten I took my son to start school. I felt like an experienced parent. I had been there before. I knew what to expect. I walked him inside the school and took him to his room. A minute or two later I walked to my car to travel the short distance to my job. As I drove away from the school a ton of emotions crashed down on me and I started to cry. It took a lot of effort to gather myself together and get to work. That flood of emotions was unexpected.
Life would never be the same again. I had just left my baby at school. Nothing would ever be the same. I experienced very similar emotions more than a dozen years later when we took him to college.
My daughter commuted from home to a local college. Four years later my son chose to attend a college a couple of hours away.
The day we left home to take our son to school I started to cry. My husband and I were driving our car and my son was in front of us in his truck. When my husband asked why I was crying I told him it was because our last child was going away to college.
In his most reasonable voice my husband said, “He will be home next weekend.” It doesn’t matter I told him. “Nothing will ever be the same again,” I said.
In a couple of years, when my two grandsons start school I’m sure I will lament, that life will never be the same again. Really, with every day that passes, life will never be the same again. The thing is, some of those passing days have a larger impact than others and it’s usually when I least expect it.
