Well...tomorrow is Riley's big day....her first day of kindergarten. I am a all to pieces over this fact for some reason! I cannot really explain how I am feeling. I feel excited and sick at the same time. I am in awe at how quickly 5 years have passed an now she is not an infant, baby, toddler or preschooler any more. Yep, I feel sick. I know she will be fine...and I think I will be fine but for now I am a mess. I have not cried and I hope I do not cry tomorrow because it will probably alarm her...I hope I can at least hold back the waterworks until I am out of her sight. I just hope and pray that she has a happy and successful school year. She is so tender hearted and shy sometimes.
I remember my first day of kindergarten like it were yesterday! I remember walking down the long hallway with very shiny floors, walking into Miss Hambrick's room for the first time, having my cousin Laura show me around the room and that the girl's bathroom was marked with Minnie Mouse and the boy's was Mickey Mouse while my mom spoke to Miss Hambrick. I remember my mom leaving and I remember crying quietly but not making a big scene. I remember every detail, the toys, the decorations, the "reading house" where you could go to for quiet time with a book, I remember it all. I love it there and I loved the wonderful eccentric teacher with coke bottle thick glasses, hippie brown hair and who sang to us accompanied by her acoustic guitar every day. I still think of her when I hear..."she'll be coming round the mountain", or "this old man". :-)
Back to my first day....I was feeling pretty pitiful so after a little while I got tired of being sad and I wanted to laugh so I did something that made me laugh. When a little boy was about to sit down I pulled the chair out from under him and he hit the floor. Luckily it did not hurt him but when he fell it made a very funny "pop" sound and his eyes got really big. It was hysterical to me then and probably would still be today. He laughed and I laughed and I felt better. (Now you may be thinking...man that was mean but you have to understand one of my two older brothers was a CLOWN and he always cheered me up or kept me from taddling on him by making me laugh and we played jokes on each other like that all the time so in my little 5 year old brain pulling the chair out from under Luther was okay...I still see Luther all the time by the way he works at Walmart and when I see him I smile to myself to this day.)
Kindergarten was also when I met my very first "best friend" besides Laura who was more like a sister. I still remember Misty. We were inseparable. We were both shy and giggly and got along famously. She was the best!!!
After kindergarten the school district rezoned and I was moved to another school. That was traumatic for me and I missed Misty so much! I did not know anyone in 1st grade and I pretty much hated it for a while but I eventually made new friends and was accepted by those who already had their little clicks. (Funny how that happens SO young.) It is kind of strange/neat how when you move up you tend to stick with the people you know from elementary, to middle to high school. I can still tell you pretty much who all my friends were from WAY back when!
Ahhh....it was nice to go down memory lane for a minute. I think I will tell Riley about my first day in Kindergarten before bed tonight....leaving out the part about the stunt I pulled of course. :-)
Later Gaters!
That is so funny that shy little Joy would do such a sneaky thing!
ReplyDeleteI sure wish I had you memory (or maybe I don't - haha). The only thing I remember about kindergarten was my teacher who was sweet but laughed like a hyena and that one time we set a mouse trap and the next morning we found only a mouse's tail in it.
Best of luck to Riley on her first day of kindergarten, but best of luck to her mom, too!