Not gonna lie: I lingered in the drop-off line this morning as my children unbuckled seat belts and scrambled to get their backpacks.
I did not say, “Hurry up!” I did not remind them that parents were waiting behind us for their turn. I did not remind them to be on their best behavior, to stay on green, to hurry, hurry, for Pete’s sake hurry!
I told them I love them (as I do every morning). I blew eleventy million kisses right back at my 6-year-old. I told ridiculous knock-knock jokes to make them laugh.
I lingered.
We all lingered. No one honked. No one snuck between the snaked line of cars to get to work five minutes earlier. We all watched our kids the entire way into the school and held our breaths. We reminded ourselves that our school has always kept our children safe and most likely there will not be any issues today. I chanted that over and over in my head and could almost hear every other parent in the drop-off line doing the same.
I can’t lie: it was almost impossible to let the kiddos walk into that school this morning. But I let them go and soon I will pick them up and we will be one day closer to being mostly in one piece again, hopefully with more kindness and compassion and an appreciation for the beauty in little everyday moments.
Tags: Newtown
December 17, 2012 at 2:47 pm |
After being sick all last week I am finally feeling better and have to accept this happened. On Friday I was able to be in complete denial because I was too sick to focus on anything. Having a hard time even thinking about it.