I'm thinking of the first, first day of school we spent together. You were five months old and as the NYC public school students headed back to school and I wasn't a teacher to any of them, I was pleased as punch that we were together and I wasn't headed back to school. And on that day, I thought of this day. The day you would start kindergarten. It seemed a long way off back then but now here we are.
You're nervous and have been for a while. It would creep into your head throughout our summer and you'd wonder aloud about how long a day would be and then we'd continue with our summer adventures. As it got closer to this day, you increasingly became a bit more concerned about really, how long would it be and that neither I, nor Papa, would be there to experience it with you. "I'd be all right with it if you were there the whole day," you told me several times last night. But the thing is Abigail, this is for you to experience, this new world, on your own, and then you get to tell me all about it. You get to learn a new language, meet new teachers, new friends, new words will appear before you as you magically learn to read and, of course, you'll be wearing your new silver shoes. The shoes that represented kindergarten to you throughout this summer: big girl shoes with no strap! So, in your new shoes, in your uniform, in your four braids hairdo, you walked to school, crying and worrying. And that's okay. It's how you deal with it. You will come out of this triumphant, at your own pace. And I'm so very proud of you. I mean, hey, you didn't follow me out the door when I walked out. That was no small feat. And though I may not physically be there to experience a day of kindergarten with you, all my hopes, all my dreams for you are there for you, rooting you on: "You're ready for this! You can do it!"
