My rising second and fourth graders have never taken the bus to school because driving the kids to school has always been our best option.  I know that sounds counterintuitive, but the logistics made sense for us.  Next year, all that changes when my daughter, my baby, a preschool GRADUATE will be heading off to kindergarten on a big, bright yellow, loud, school bus.  This breaks me up inside as I worry about safety and the lack of supervision.  Word in the neighborhood is that we’re on that bus…the one with challenging behaviors.  Sigh.  Aside from my overall apprehension, I will genuinely miss the shared drive to and from school each day.

I will miss sing-a-longs and dance parties. Our ride was the perfect length of time to get through their three current favorite songs.

I will miss walking them in and seeing them off until the last second. Peace of mind that they safely made it to the building.

I will miss seeing them greet their friends with unbridled enthusiasm.

I will miss sensing their moods as soon as they walk towards me at the end of the day. The big smile or lack of eye contact that gives me insight into the type of day they experienced and a peek at what is making them tick.

I will miss catching a thumbs up from their teachers’ to know that things are going well.

I will miss driving back home. Seatbelts mean no opportunity to escape and are a valued tool used to coax out small moments from their days.  They say the small stuff is the big stuff and I don’t want to miss a detail.

There is no doubt I’ll continue to taxi my kids around town – back and forth on the same stretches of road.  We will make our annual journey by car all the way to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  There will be hours upon hours of car rides our future.  No matter, I am already looking back on this seemingly mundane time as a sweet memory of the way things used to be.

New adventures await.

Happy Summer!