Kindergarten

Thistle's first day of kindergarten is tomorrow.  She will be attending a nice private school, and I am grateful to be able to do this for her.  There are only 13 kids in her class.  She had a kindergarten greeting today, and the teachers were wonderful!  She got to plant a mint plant from our own garden (the teachers asked for flowers, herbs, etc.).  She wore her cute overalls, new sneakers, and a shirt she likes.  I was gratified to see that there are two after-school classes she is interested in : Lego Engineering for the kindergartners (they build working models of Ferris wheels and such), and after-school sports on one weekday.  I want to give this little girl every advantage of a good school where she will not be lost in the shuffe.

I will be taking her to school and getting up at 630 am well into my 60s.  The tradeoff is that I have a huge amount of time to be in Santa Cruz and write at the library, coffeeshops, and catch the bus to work easily if I decide to go back.

I still have to go buy lunch containers, an extra water bottle, rustle up a second set of clothes, etc.

I am not going to be scared about this--I had so many years as the "weird" mom who read books and didn't have  a lot of money, and an old car.  I'm still probably going to be viewed as the same, but this time around, I try not to care.

How I wished you could have done this with me.  You know who you are.  I miss you.

And yet, I do have this life: a real life, a truly good one I am making for myself and for my Thistle.