FizzyLizzy

For Katherine's fifth and final year at this school, there is no fanfare, no hoopla, on the first day of school. I'll save that for the end of the year. I already got misty-eyed when I was paging through the school calendar and came across the date for the fifth-grade middle school orientation in May.

William and I waited at the wrong bus stop at the end of the day, but even that was uneventful. The infinite wisdom of the computerized student logistics system has Katherine and William getting off at different stops coming home. We're not supposed to complain about these things until next week, so I dutifully waited at the stop printed on her card. The bus driver dropped her off at William's stop, at the end of our block.

On Katherine's first day of kindergarten, I came home from work to see her get off the bus and hear about her day. As I waited at the corner I thought to myself, "What if she doesn't get off the bus?" The bus came. The neighbor kids got off the bus. No Katherine. I got on the bus and called her name. No Katherine. My mom was at our house caring for William so I got her to wait at the corner while I frantically drove to the school. No Katherine. I drove past the other bus stops. No Katherine. Finally as I got to our street, there was the bus at our corner, dropping off my tiny Katherine. She had been sitting at the back of the bus, didn't recognize the stop, and didn't hear me call her name. After the driver finished the route, he checked the bus, found this little five-year-old, and dropped her off where she was supposed to be. The whole ordeal probably took all of twenty minutes, but it seemed like a lifetime.

I hope everyone--parents, children, and siblings--had an uneventful first day of school.