Kate’s first day of kindergarten

And just like that she was off into the world.

Kate climbed on the school bus this week like she’d been doing it for years. “Bye, Mama!” floated down to me as she headed to a seat at the front of the bus. I don’t typically get emotional about things like this but my eyes watered a bit as I walked from the bus stop back to our house.

I wasn’t sad that my one and only child is off to kindergarten. I don’t long for the baby days of diapers and bottles or even the toddler days of potty training and “Dora the Explorer.” I’m eager to see what this little person becomes. Will she be an artist? A scientist? A veterinarian? Or all some combination of the three as she professes in that way children do when they dream of the future.

I didn’t feel tears of sadness for days gone by but tears of hope for all that’s yet to come. In the same moment, though, my heart weighed heavy in my chest, knowing we have a big responsibility ahead of us to train up our child and keep her on the right path. We can’t protect her from “the world” with its mean girls and teasing boys and eventual adolescent peer pressure and big decisions. That world awaits all of us and, for all the struggles it brings, it’s also how we learn and grow.

So, I took a deep breath, dried the corners of my eyes and said a prayer for the precious little girl and the incredible woman she’s destined to become.