The alarm went off twice -- once while I was standing at my bathroom sink brushing my teeth and once again while I was helping Kasen turn his shirt right side out. I was up way before the alarms started. I could feel anxiety creeping in, but I maintained a poker face for my son's benefit. The school season was ahead of us, and though Koah has been in "school" for a few years now, this is his first year REALLY being in school. Kindergarten. Wow, what a milestone. Yes, for him, but also for myself. Hence the anxiety. I was nervous like it was my first day.
Koah went through orientation effortlessly. No big deal. No fears, just questions. He's just like his Dad, who is just as calm and fearless about any big event including... public speaking. Like father, like son.
I could feel a lump in my throat and my heart pounding in my chest at the familar sound of bus brakes hissing to a stop. And just like that, there he went. Off to kindergarten.
Good-bye summer break, hello back to school.
Lucky for me, he is too little to care about the 100 photos I snapped of him on our front porch. The photographer in me wanted to dart across the street and get a picture of him posed in front of the school bus doors, but something in me said no. No, just let him go... and so I did.