Elementary End

In less than two weeks my son will be "graduating" from Elementary School.  I don't know how this is possible.  It couldn't have been 6 Marches ago that we walked him up to register him for Kindergarten and met the Principal.  I remember his small little hand in Mr. A's he introduced himself.

I can remember that little boy nervously lining up that September morning in 2010 with the rest of his classmates.  I remember him running out at the end of the day and his father carrying him home on his shoulders.  How could we have gotten to June 2015 so quickly?  How is it possible that the little boy is almost as tall as me (hence, piggy back rides are no longer an option, no matter how much we want to give them) and whose feet are just a big as mine.  (And just to confirm that I slid my foot into his new deck shoes the other day and found them to fit quite comfortably.)

So here we are at the end of Elementary School; the third generation to "graduate" from here.  And thus begins the craziness of the end of the school year.  Although in hindsight, I should say continues, as over the past 3 weeks we've already had three concerts (two instrumental and one vocal).  This week brings two tests (I'm guessing the last of the year), a pool party for all 4th graders (there are 4 elementary schools in  our town) and a meeting for all parents of middle school children on their new school structure for 2015-2016.  Next week brings a birthday party, 3 half days, a "farewell" ceremony (in which some students will receive awards and all will get their "diplomas"), a class party and of course, the big send off on the last day of school.

While I'm sad that my son is moving on from this school that I love so much, I have been anticipating this last day of elementary school for years.  It is a big deal as the 4th graders are dismissed first on that last day of school.  The parents and family will line up by the mid-school exit which will only be used by 4th graders on this day.  As they all come out there will be applause and cheers.  There will be balloons and hugs.  There will tears too.  And knowing me (my son should be warned) there will be LOTS of photos.  I've been envisioning him walking out of that door since the last day of kindergarten when I learned of this "ceremony."  I think then it will really hit me that he has transitioned from a little boy into a "big kid."  (When does "tween-dom" officially start?  If we're not there yet, we are very close.)

The chaos of the next 10 days will catch up with all of us.  I know we'll be exhausted and proud.  I know my son will be ready for summer vacation.  The vacation which I have plotted out to the point of obsessiveness.  I didn't set out for it to be that way, but there it is.  He's got quite a busy schedule for July and August with only 2 weeks of "nothing to do time."  Well, at least we shouldn't get too much of the "I'm bored" as his days are filled with various camps (Marine Science, Bay Beach, Sleep Away and YMCA).  So the chaos of the last weeks of school will evolve into the chaos of summer.

But isn't life always full of chaos?

 As we reach the end of Elementary, I don't think I'd have it any other way.

Comments

  1. Wow first off I can't believe he is going into the 5th grade (5th grade here is still element.) Wasn't he just born? Good luck with the end of the year chaos, kids here have been out a couple weeks already and already seem to be bored ;)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Not Guilty

Please Don't Ask Me...

Moving