Barnaclebutt

Yesterday was the first day of school. At some point, after dropping everyone off, I let out this long sigh of relief and let my mind drift back to last year and how truly awful it was.

I remembered how guilty I felt about our move and how scared I was that my tiny shiny children would suffer for even a minute. The thought of them feeling scared and lonely was unbearable.

But now here we are. And everyone went off to their classes excited, nervous, and happy. Just like it should be! Katie is a freshman in high school! How did that happen?
Maddie is a JUNIOR! Stop the clock.I can still pretend Jonathan and Ellie are little so I'm going with that. Notice not how big they really are.
Perhaps the sweetest moment of yesterday came in two parts. As I was driving Maddie to golf (yes, she is playing varsity golf) she started telling me about how at lunch she saw a girl eating by herself so she and a friend went over to talk to her and invite her to eat with them. They found out that she was new and had moved here from Washington. Then Maddie told me how she wished someone had done that for her on her first day last year, and how she thinks that people who haven't ever moved don't even really notice someone who is alone but that because she has been through it, "my heart goes, 'ohhhh,' when I see someone like that. I know now that no one really wants to eat by themselves."

My own heart went "ohhhh" when she told me this. I am so happy that my beautiful girl has found a way to take something good and valuable away from a difficult experience!
I sometimes call Maddie and Ellie my "bookends" because they look so much and act so much alike, so what happened next shouldn't surprise me. As I was tucking Ellie into bed last night I asked if she liked who she was sitting next to in school. She said that she did because she is sitting next to the new girl and she is happy to be her first friend because she knows how it feels to be scared on the first day at a new school.

I have a very full, very happy mommy heart right now.