yesterday, through food

i sent my baby off to her first day of kindergarten yesterday. by all means, it should not have been so tough. natalie attended the same school last year, so returning was a bit like a homecoming. before we left, i tried to coax her into eating a scone, but she was too excited. we arrived and she went tearing through the gates like we'd just landed at disneyland. as the children lined up, she managed to pry her attention away from her friends and blow me five kisses. and just like that, the baby who refused to take a bottle and only wanted mom skipped confidently into her kindergarten classroom. i walked back out the gates with a lump in my throat, clinging to my coffee like a teddy bear. i remembered my mother telling me how she had my father take me to my first day of school so she could stay home and cry. i sat in my car for awhile before driving off, in awe of how life had brought me to the other side of the story. when i picked natalie up, we stopped for strawberry smoothies and, for the first time ever, she told me every detail of her day. we spun around in our seats and marveled at the apple she created on her first day of kindergarten.