First day of school...

I still remember the first day of school. The most exciting part was of course the night before. I'd pack my bookbag with all my new pencils and pens in my pencil box. I'll slip the new, razor sharp crispy line paper into a recycled binder that my mom found in a recycling bin. I'll lay out my uniform with my sweater and socks stuffed into my shoes.

Last night, Joyce and I spent hours getting Nui-nui's things ready for her first day of school. Packed extra clothes, extra diapers, extra wipies. Filled out all the necessary forms for registration. Cleaned out the cooler to hold Nui's milk. And of course had to pick out the perfect outfit to make that first impression on her new friends.

The next morning, everything that had to go wrong did. I got Joyce and I lost even though I've been on the same freeway a thousand times. We did NOT have time for breakfast despite waking up at 5:30. And traffic was at it's worse even before 7:30AM.

We finally got to Auntie Et's place. We were the first ones there. The other children don't show up until 8 or 9ish. So it was just me, Joyce, Nui-nui and Auntie Et. She was ready for us. We gave her all of Nui's stuff. All the forms. The payment for the week. Auntie Et didn't even read the forms. She just picked up Nui and started to hold her. We engaged in some small talk, trying to stall, trying to avoid the inevitable. But after about 10 minutes of talking, the awkwardness finally settled in. We had nothing else to do but leave.

Joyce gave Nui a kiss and put her shoes on. We turned for the door and started to head out. Then Joyce halted, took her shoes off and ran back to give Nui another kiss. And that was it. That was the final dot to the eye and cross to the tee. This time, there was no turning back. We walked through the fire door, heard the BANG! to behind us and started down the stairs. Tears started welling up in our eyes. Our little princess, our little precious, our first born, our gift from God is now in the hands of a lady we've met but once. And it won't be another 8 hours till we see her again. This was one of the must heart-wrenching moments of my life... this moment in time...

Mood: lonely