Wednesday, June 4, 2008

The Last Day

She pulls on her shoes
and heads off to the last day.
To her, no big deal.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

T Plus 177

The school year is 180 days long, and we have three more to go. What have we learned?

Well, Lucy has learned to read and write, of course, and add and subtract, and identify Maryland on a map of the United States. Also to eat lunch in under 20 minutes, respond to what seems to me a complex series of clapping signals, and pledge questionable allegiance to a piece of colorful fabric. It could be worse.

But what have we learned really? To be apart, I guess. That she can go off without me, survive, and come back to tell me about it. That she’s not fragile after all. To let her work out her own relationships. That she loves to learn (well, I knew that) and will do it even in settings that are not what I would consider ideal. To provide at home the things that are missing in school, and to recognize that school provides some things that are missing at home. That being around people who think differently than we do is good for her. To let her have her own ideas about things, even when they’re different from mine, but to make sure she understands why I think what I do. To skip school sometimes.

That she is still my little girl.

That she is growing up.