Kindergarten

While I was at work I realized that my sister-in-law and brother would be signing up my niece for kindergarten during the day.  I had to stop and reflect on this for a few minutes.  I can't believe she is getting so big and growing up so fast.  I guess kids have a funny way of doing that.  I thought some about that quote that you often hear "All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten" by Robert Fulghum.

Maybe that statement is completely accurate.  Many life lessons are learned in that classroom more so than in all the other school years.  It's your first exposure to the wonder of learning and in some way, it's really your first exposure to entering the real world.  Whether you are home schooled, or go to a private school, or a public school (like I did), you start your greatest cultural and educational journey in an organized fashion when you begin kindergarten (or whatever you may call it if you go the non-public school route).  You have to start learning responsibility, and time management, and how to tie your shoes, and how to read, etc.

I started thinking about how excited I was for Natalie to begin this next chapter in her life.  I also knew how hard it was going to be on my sister-in-law because she is growing up and sometimes that's scary.  It would be hard on me if I was in her shoes and I was having to sign Ellison up for kindergarten.  Unfortunately, I'll never get to experience that with Ellie or fully experience these emotions, but I can still feel the emotions that other mothers feel.  We talked a little about this on the phone when I called to check on my sister-in-law.  It's scary having to send your child off into the real world.

What's even scarier is knowing that sending them off into the real world means having to allow them to experience all the ups and downs that it has to offer.  And maybe in kindergarten that just means having to experience the good of learning something new or the bad of when someone doesn't share the toy with you.  But as they get older and move on up in grades, the goods and bads change.  And what we all learn, having been through this process, is that nothing can protect you from all the bads that may arise.

I learned this concept in kindergarten, and it's still true to this day.  Nothing could have protected me from this tragedy.  As much as I wish I could have been shielded from it, just as I wish Natalie gets shielded from negative experiences along her new journey, it's just not possible.  That's the real world.  Bad things do happen to good people.  Good things do happen to bad people.  Good things do happen to good people.  Fair is a nonexistent concept.  Some days life is amazing and sometimes life just sucks.  These are all just the facts of life.  We all learn this in kindergarten, but I think we sometimes forget that we have learned these things until we're faced with them again.

I just hope Natalie learns as much as she possibly can and I am so happy to know how excited she is to start her rite of passage.  She's got the whole world ahead of her, and the whole world at her feet, and the sky's the limit.  My Gran always told me when I was growing up to "hitch my wagon to a star" because life is what you make of it through both the good times and the bad.  I hope Natalie hitches her wagon to an even brighter star.  I know I'll be standing by her side through the good and the bad as life marches on, and I'll always have Ellie standing by my side as I march on.