Preschool Nostalgia

Today was Benjy's first day of preschool and the first day of my new job as Benjy's chauffeur. I've been a chauffeur before, but I had retired my driving cap last January when I made Jacob start riding the bus to kindergarten. Unfortunately, there's no bus to preschool, so once again, I'm donning my driving cap for what I'll call, "Driving Mr. Benjamin."

Benjy is definitely NOT too cool for school

I know that some of you moms spend three times as much time in the car driving your kids around to school, sporting events and other extracurricular activities. I'm sure that you perform this duty with joy and pride. I am not among you. I already resent the 15 to 20 minute drive each way, twice a day, that so far, I have only suffered through once. In fact, I even second-guessed our decision to send Benjy to preschool this year. After all, he is only three-years-old. Preschool could wait another year, especially if it means I have to endure the drudgery of taking him and picking him up each day. Don't worry. I'm a martyr, and I will sacrifice my own personal computer/talking on the phone/watching T.V./hanging with my girlfriends time so that Benjy can get the education that he deserves. But none of my boys better even think about playing a sport. That is just too much, even for me.

When I dropped Benjy off today, I couldn't help but remember Jacob's first day of preschool three years ago. Much like today, I was holding his little hand and lugging in a baby, bravely leading us all into the brightly colored classroom. Only that baby was Benjy, and today it is Andrew, and Benjy's little hand is the one clinging to mine. I'm not sure who was more nervous on Jacob's first day-- me or him-- probably me. We had just moved to Springfield, IL, Benjy was six-weeks-old, and I had been a stay-at-home mom for six weeks, which was three weeks longer than I had needed to realize that if my new career was going to last, Jacob was going to need preschool. Thank God, they'd had a last minute opening. I remember standing there, nervously looking around at all the other moms who seemed to have it all together. At 27, I was by far the youngest mother there, oddly enough. And this was my first child going to preschool. For many of them, it was their third or fourth. I admired their ease, but now I know that that kind of tranquility only comes from serious medication or out of necessity from having multiple children.

Jacob shows off his academic skills about three years ago

So today as I dropped my second child off while carrying my baby and escorting my eldest, I couldn't help but notice the anxious first timers kissing their preschoolers goodbye and lingering in the hall just a little too long. I couldn't help but think "That was me three years ago." I even sighed, silently reflecting on how fast three years had flown by.

And then I turned to Jacob and said, "Run."