First Day
I was nervous, excited, happy, and worried. I had so many different emotions going through my head. I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was my son’s first day of kindergarten. It was the beginning of many more years of homework, reading, book reports and new faces. I asked myself, what was it going to be like? Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 was the beginning of a new life, new experience for my son Elijah. It was a new milestone.
It was 6:45 am when my husband, Santiago, and I woke up to the sound of his annoying beeping sound alarm. We grabbed the camcorder and strolled down the hall to the kid’s room. We turned on the camcorder and before we woke up the kids, we were recording every moment. I remember as I walked in the door, I saw the sun peeking in through the side of the curtain. It was giving off an orange glow because the curtain was like an orange, mustard color. The curtain was obstructing the sun from showing off its warmth and splendor. So I moved the curtain over to one side and immediately sunshine rushed into the room. As my husband recorded he said, “Good morning Elijah, good morning Sydney. It’s time to wake up.” My daughter didn’t move at all and Elijah turned his head towards the wall because the sun was bright and he doesn’t like that. I said, “Good morning my babies, it’s time to wake up.” Then Elijah said, “Good morning momma, good morning dada.” My daughter woke up also but I think on the wrong side of the bed. I stepped up on the white stool to reach the top bunk and pulled back his bright blue blanket as he stretched his arms and legs just like a cat. He came down the ladder, one foot after the other until he reached the warm, cozy, shaggy light brown carpet.
Scrambled eggs with shredded cheddar cheese, little beef smokies with strawberry milk is his favorite breakfast. As I prepared it, he sat patiently in his pajamas, at the dinner table with his baby sister Sydney. All four of us sat and ate our breakfast. Elijah finished everything. His tummy was full and satisfied. With a full tummy I knew he would be able to concentrate in school better and would be able to take in everything his teacher taught. I then helped Elijah and Sydney change into clothes and put socks and shoes. We went to the bathroom, I brushed the kid’s teeth and my husband put some hair stuff on my son so he can look cool he said. Remembering this day brings tears of joy to my eyes because was so proud of my son. He was changing and growing, becoming a big boy. He put his backpack on, walked towards the front door ready to go but before we left, I asked my husband to lead us in a prayer and he did. We held hands and we prayed for protection over our son and asked God to help our son in everything he did in school. We gave thanks for giving us such a wonderful, beautiful, intelligent son. I put Sydney in her stroller and out we went.
It was a beautiful, warm day. The trees stood tall, flowers blossomed and birds chirping. It was a perfect summer day. As we walked down the street, my husband recorded Elijah. He asked him, “Are you excited to start kindergarten?” Elijah responded, “Yup!” and then an, “Oh yeah!” I asked, “How do you feel?” He said, “Good, excited.” As we walked and got closer to the school, I thought about how my son was growing so fast and started fast forwarding to the future. It starts with Kindergarten, then junior high, high school and eventually college. I think all mothers tend to think too far ahead.
Gridley Street Elementary School read the sign. We had arrived. Elijah was ecstatic and I was a wreck. We went to the auditorium, took a seat in the front row and waited. Parents and children filled the benches and tables that were set up on the side. The more crowded it got the loader it got. You could hear the crackling and squeaking sounds of the chairs because the room was so large. Finally the time had come. The principal, Mrs. Vaiegas, greeted everyone, gave a couple of announcements, went over some regulations and then introduced the Kindergarten teachers. One by one the teachers called out the names of their students and one by one they lined up in front of the teacher. When Mrs. Meade, Elijah’s teacher, called his name, he looked over at us and said, “That’s my name!” He was overjoyed. He went up and lined up behind a classmate. My husband and I looked at each other with pride and took a deep very deep breath.
The teachers walked to their classroom with their new students and parents. Room 8 was my son’s room, just across from the restroom which was great I thought. Mrs. Meade asked the children to sit on the carpet and the parents gathered around the desks. She introduced herself and gave a little background. She mentioned that year was her 12th year teaching at Gridley Elementary and she loved it very much. She was not fond of that fact that she had a large number of students. She went over some rules, what she expected from the parents and students and opened the floor for any questions. As she spoke and parents asked questions, I looked around the room. There were small desks with small blue chairs lined up like a U shape. There were letters and numbers on the walls. Name tag on the desks and small words on the walls like up, down, in, out, one and two. The carpet the children sat on was blue with letters and animals. The room smelled like crayons and school. There was no smell that I could pin point.
Mrs. Meade asked the children to find their name on a desk and to sit down. She was ready to start session. Once Elijah was at his desk he turned around and said to us, “Mommy, Daddy you can go now.” I was in shock. My son was kicking us out. He was ready to start his new chapter in life. I wasn’t but I had to let go. We gave him a hug and kiss then another hug and kiss. He gave Sydney a hug and kiss and said bye. I told him I loved him very much and we would see him after school. I cried just a little. My son was growing up and there was nothing I could do. It was an important day for all of us because the way he perceives learning and adapting to a new environment was imperative. If he initiated school with a positive attitude along with a positive experience, then the years to come would be the same. Learning and expanding his knowledge will always be exciting to him.
It was 2:36pm, time for school session to end. We picked him up at the designating gate. We asked him how his day was and he said, “Awesome!!” He said he had new friends and he had homework. He was safe and sound and we were together again.
