My daughter is going to kindergartner.....uggg

My daughter is going to kindergarten. No not this year, next year, but still it is fast approaching. In order to understand where I am going with this story, I have to take you back to the beginning.

My first day of my senior year of high school.  I got off the bus, walked down the street to my home, put my hand on the front door handle, and the door swung open so fast that it nearly pulled my arm out of its socket.  My mom was on the other side of the door opening it quite fast.  She had tears running down her face, and my dad was standing behind her at the top of the steps.  He said,"She is all yours. You need to take care of her.  She is upset about you going to college next year." And with that, he walked away placing my teary eyed mom in my hands.  I hugged her, and she proceeded on telling me how all day she had been upset about me going to college next year.  She explained to me how fast this LAST year was going to go.  And the truth is she was right.  It did go fast.

And now I am a mom, and my kids are six and four. I see how very fast time goes.  It seems cliche to talk about this, but it is cliche because it is true. It doesn't seem that long ago that they were born. My son started kindergarten this year, and I miss him.  He even joined his first club, lego club, and he loves it.  But this means that he goes to school on Thursdays from 8:30 am until 4:45 pm.  It is a long day.

My daughter starts kindergarten next year. I have been teasing her lately and saying that I am not going to send her to school next year. I tell her that she is way too much fun to hang out with, so school is out for her. Well, of course she laughs and tells me," No, Mommy I have to go to school, just like Aidan.  I have to learn and grow up."  So wise my little girl. Anyway, so this is where the story begins to take a twist.

We were grocery shopping Monday, I decided to pull out my typical tease line,"So, I have decided that I am definitely not sending you to school next year.  I mean you don't want to go to school and learn? And I love hanging out with you.  If you go to school, who am I going to hang out with?"

Without skipping a beat, she looked me straight in the eyes and started to say, "Daddy....."  But she stopped herself, looked away for a moment,  and said under her breath, "oh no Daddy is at work." Then she raised her head and her eyes and confidently looked at me and said," Mommy, you need to get an imaginary friend."

I laughed so hard.  And I thought, that is what I am going to miss.  What a gift it has been hanging out with these two little people.  No matter how frustrating situations may get sometimes; it has been a gift.

My daughter didn't think she was being funny.  She thought it was a great solution for me.  At dinner time, we always recap our day and share it with each other.  One of the moments my daughter chose to recap was a moment that she believed highlighted not only her problem solving skills, but also her ability to help someone else in need with a problem (me).  When she arrived at her solution, "Mommy needs an imaginary friend," everyone at the table had an opinion on who this imaginary friend should be.  My son immediately wanted the imaginary friend to be a ten year old boy.  He thought this would be the most fun for me, and he wouldn't mind playing along with us once he got home from school.  My daughter thought it should be someone just like herself -- of course.  And my husband just thought it needed to be an adult woman, so we would have things in common to talk about.  I sat quietly listening to them debate the issue with passion and simply thought .... what a Blessed life I have.  And I don't want to miss a moment thinking about stopping our future that is constantly revealing itself to me.