Apparently your kid’s first day of kindergarten is a big deal. I say this because other parents at my daughter’s kindergarten talked about how emotional it was, how they got teary when the teacher read The Kissing Hand, and what a Big Day it was. It’s not that I’m unemotional—I burst into tears every time I drop a hot dog—but we’ve been dropping Child Harbat off at school since she was three months old. Even though this was a new school and she got to use her brand new prancing pony lunchbox with integral pockets and shoulder strap, it was just another morning. Maybe CH picked up on this lack of fanfare, but her first day didn’t garner any rave reviews.
Wife: How was your first day of school?
CH: Okay.
Me: So what did you do? Arts and crafts? Music? Dancing?
CH: Miles dropped his grapes and they went all over the floor.
Me: You didn’t do anything else?
CH: They went everywhere!
So another chapter begins in our daughter’s life and the most memorable thing is a food-dropping incident at lunch. This is a good thing, really. These details are the spice of life, the thing that makes it your own. Most people have a first day of school but very few get to see fresh grapes fall from a lunchbox and roll ALL OVER THE FLOOR! OMG!!
While I say goodbye to my daughter as she marches off to the rest of her life I know, at least for now, that she’ll come home each day and tell me the important things. Like who dropped their food.
Writer, architect, father, husband.