Firsts and Lasts

So Monday was the first day of school for my sweet Grace. It was a hard, hard, hard day for me, my friends. I was not ready to watch her walk into that school. At. All.

The decision to put her into a private school was not taken lightly. Several factors were taken into consideration, but ultimately we decided it would be what was best for her. And me. As much as I knew it was the best decision ... it was still very hard to let her go. You see, Grace is my helper. She's the one I can always count on. She's also just a really, really sweet girl to be around. I knew I was going to miss her.

But Monday morning came and she was beside herself with excitement. She also felt like she was gonna throw up -- a trait she inherited from ...um ... her mother. The morning did NOT transpire in the way I had hoped and because of several circumstances we ended up running late for the first day of school. Um, yeah. She wasn't technically late, but we certainly weren't early either.

I had pre-planned all the pictures I wanted to take DAYS ahead. Pictures of me and her, pictures of her with one of her best friends, pictures with her teacher... Guess how many I ended up with before school? Four. Four pictures. I wasn't mad, just disappointed. Okay ... and a little mad, too. I really wanted a picture of us together. Why? I don't know. I just did.

Anyway, here's my girl ~ not in front of our house or pretty flowers ~ but sitting in Phil the Burb.


And the one (ONE!!!) picture I got in front of the school. Can't tell she's excited or nothin', can ya??


I had only taken 3 pictures at this point because we were running behind, but apparently my girl felt like she had been subjected to a full fledged photography session because no sooner had I finished taking this picture when she turned to me and said,

"Are we going to do this every morning? Because if we are then I might as well just stay home!"

Oh yes, she did.

I didn't get a picture with her teacher, but at least I got one outside of her classroom. She was losing a little patience with me at this point.


I walked limped out those doors, got into my truck and bawled my eyes out. Then I pulled myself together, went home, put my foot up and watched the clock like a hawk until 2:45 pm. I also watched a little Food Network, but that's neither here nor there.

My friend Anita picked me up and went to get our girls together. I was never so relieved to see Grace's sweet face walk out those doors in all my life! She was smiling and bebopping her way to the truck like she had done this for years. She was a teeny bit overwhelmed, but mostly had a really good day!

And to celebrate her very first day of school EVER, we went to Sonic and got a Jr. Candy Sundae!!


And your probably asking yourselves, "We get the 'Firsts' part of the post title, but what about the 'Lasts'?".

Well Monday was the last "first" day of high school that My Boy will ever have. I can't believe that I'm the mother of a senior, y'all. I'm also having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I'm going to have an 18 year old son in less than 3 weeks. Or maybe it's hard to believe that I'll have an 18 year old AND a 9 (NINE!) month old!!! Oh my word. God is good, isn't He?




Anyway, this is the last year to sit in the football stands and cheer him on (and pray he doesn't get hurt!) on Friday nights. That makes me really sad. He's played football since he was 10 years old and it will just be ... well ... weird without it.

I guess this means we'll have to retire our Warrior headdress hanging on the rear view mirror of Phil, too. ::sigh:: I just love that thing.


So there you have it, my friends. The 'Firsts' and 'Lasts' of this past Monday. It was an emotional day to say the least. I'm spent.

Good thing I bought that double pack of Nutella last week.