Austin, on the other hand, thrived. He loved every minute of it. No anxiety or timidity, just bounding off into the newness of school and a life of his own.
I was so proud of him.
He catches the bus at the high school where Joseph works. Most days he will just walk with Joseph in the morning and catch the bus on his own. But today, I needed to be there. For me, not for him. We walked to the school and Joseph came out and took pictures and said goodbye. Fortunately, there is a girl we know who offered to help him on the bus and figure out where to go once he got to school. I was so relieved. Alanna helped ease my worries, even if Austin didn't have any worries to begin with.
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| Austin and Alanna |
Usually Austin will ride the bus back to the high school at the end of the day and go to Joseph's classroom to walk home with him. Today we all met him when he got off the bus. The bus driver is a friend of ours and he just smiled knowingly as I took picture after picture while he got on and off the bus. I didn't want to miss a moment.
But I did miss a moment. I missed the whole day. I didn't get to go into his new classroom with him. I didn't get to sit down in the desk next to him. I didn't get to work on assignments or sing the "Days of the Week" song with him. He went to recess and lunch without me and started to make friends who I've never seen before. And he did marvelously. I could not be happier for him, but the ache inside grew and pressed on my heart as I watched the bus pull away this morning. When he arrived home, leaping off the bus platform, I knew that it would never be the same.
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| "A dinosaur in a cave, and some letters." |
But that is good too. We are supposed to grow and change. I just wish it didn't hurt so bad sometimes.
To help ease our pain (Matthew missed Austin so much today!) we went to the park for awhile. Elizabeth kept looking away whenever I tried to take her picture and she was not being very cooperative in general. But she ran all over independently and went down the slide over and over again. I only got a picture of her going down backwards, but she went down forwards as well.
I revelled in the beauty of the moment since I had a vivid reminder that before too long, they too would be venturing forth into the world without me constantly by their side.
A wonderful day, a bittersweet day.
Good job, my Austin. I love you!
