Today Jason and I attended the new parent orientation at Highland Park Elementary School, where Lucy will be a kindergartner next year. Yes, a kindergartner.
I walked in the door of the 50-year-old elementary school and the distinct smells of cafeteria lunch and industrial cleaner transported me to Wooldridge Elementary, circa 1978. Ah, school. The cheery effort displayed on every wall. The little jackets on little hooks. The noise. I don't remember much from kindergarten except the eternal nap time, but by first grade, I was in love with school. The world was at once so small (studying the intricate details of the wood grain pattern of my desk) and so big (learning about the Iranian hostage crisis).
As unreal and scary as it is to imagine her in that big/small new world, the very school-ness of the place was comforting to me. She will love it as much as I did.