Ready to take on the world

As he proudly walked across the stage ready to receive his diploma, I couldn’t help but wonder what life has in store for him.

My youngest son John, 6, took part in his kindergarten gradation last week and I can still see the look on his face as he grabbed the microphone from his principal to declare that his most favorite thing about kindergarten was when he helped raise chicks.

He’s my youngest and although I tried to hold it together and get into what I like to call “reporter mode” and just take photos the event I was scheduled to attend, it didn’t work.

Although I had my personal, trusty camera in my hand that I mostly use for work, I still knew I wasn’t there for work. This wasn’t a graduation I had to cover. I was there for my son. My youngest son; and it dawned on me, this would be the last time I will attend one of my son’s kindergarten graduations. That phase it now over.

It’s tough being a mom. It seems as though life is on fast forward while we helplessly watch our children go from one phase to the next. It’s almost as though once we get the hang of one phase, our children are onto the next. We are merely copilots along their journey no matter where they take us. Maybe it’s nature’s way of not letting us get too comfortable in our motherly roles.

The program itself was short and that was a good thing. With three kindergarten classes all waiting to receive attention, their patience was getting slim.

There were parents with balloons, flowers and even teddy bears for their children, but I learned my lesson with my first son. I didn’t buy any of that. In fact, the graduation Mickey Mouse I bought for my son Matthew’s kindergarten graduation two years ago is still in the box. Untouched.

Nope. My husband and I decided to forgo those items and stick with what worked with Matthew. For Matthew, we allowed him to pick wherever he wanted to eat in Rock Springs. We learned this because they would say things like Chuck E. Cheese. He of course chose McDonalds. We then took him to a local store and had him pick out a new bike.

Matthew seemed to enjoy it, so we figured John would too. After the graduation service, John noticed we didn’t have any flowers or presents for him and asked why. We politely told him that we had a big surprise and we would take him to pick it out when we were done.

As for lunch, we decided that since Matthew was still in school and my husband and I wanted to make it a family occasion we’d wait and have a special dinner instead. However, we took John to pick out a new bike. He was so excited. He went with the Ninja Turtles bike with a matching helmet. As we walked through the store he would tell people “This is my new bike. I just graduated.” or “I’m a first grader now.”

When we got home, I had some items to carry in the house. I thought John was behind me, but after about five minutes I realized he hadn’t come into the house yet. I went out into the garage to investigate and there was John taking the training wheels off of his new bike.

He had unloaded the bike from the SUV all by himself and had found the right sized wrench to remove the bolts with. That’s my John I thought. So independent. He spent the afternoon trying to learn how to ride without training wheels.

Then, we picked up Matthew from school and went to Burger King this time. You see it’s not about the food, but about which playland the boys want to play at that day.

It was a nice and special day. It’s something I won’t forget.

I hope John doesn’t either.