Here is my attempt to write my first Mom Blog…
This I promise you will not be a blog on providing advice, but of sharing a journey with you. My only daughter Nicole will be graduating in approximately 289 days (according to her phone app)…and although this will be about her in a lot of ways, it is also about being a mom…
So let’s start our journey…the one that began in preschool.. as I watched Nicole make new friends and learn new sayings like, “zip it, lock it, put it in your pocket”, and bringing home the many “works of art”, which are still on our basement wall. I still remember back to school night and reading a paper she completed listing her favorite food as French fries, favorite color as pink, and what she wanted to be when she grew up, she wanted to be just like her mom…you know I cried the entire way home!
In only a few days my daughter will be wearing her final first day school outfit until college…where there will be no more mom taking first day outfit pictures. In so many ways it seems like just yesterday I was holding her little hand as we walked to her preschool a few blocks away.
Memories of the first day of kindergarten had no tears but lots of anticipation…after the first week, Nicole asked me if I could come pick her up after lunch because she missed me…I cried when I realized that I no longer got to spend every minute with her, that she was growing up. Two weeks into kindergarten it was September 11th and I was working on air when the first plane hit.
I have never been so scared of the unknown and fearful in all my life. I remember the frantic call I made to the school asking them if I could pick her up right then and there! I remember the drive to the school seemed like an eternity. When I arrived and Nicole came to the office she asked me why I came to get her. At that moment, I realized I had to protect her and be strong so I told her that I missed her.
Nicole and I went to a service in the park a few days later. I dressed her in this adorable patriotic gingham dress and held her tight as we sang patriotic songs and waved red glow sticks and flags with tears flowing down my cheeks. I do not think she remembers all the details of that tragic day, which is a good thing, but I know she understood the importance of my love for her and our country. That year the kindergarten show was a patriotic music which brought tears to all of our eyes, as we saw hope in our children.
My last memory was Nicole’s response to the end of kindergarten when she told me that she could not go to first grade because her teacher would miss her too much. We will always love our Mrs. Delagratti who would protect our kids as if they were her own.
In many ways this blog is about change. I am not good with change but my mom’s favorite saying is the only thing you can count on in life is change…
If I am honest, this is not where I thought my life would be or too be really honest I cannot even imagine being the mom of a senior…
So let’s share advice and walk down memory lane with me about your experience in school too...someone very smart told me that I cannot create the path for my child but I can only prepare her for the path.
So with the final first day of school only days away…I shed a small tear as the last school dress is bought and the last picture may be a selfie on her phone… I promise to share the journey if you will promise to come with me…