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Another “last time” in the books.
Friday marked the last time we would go to a Montessori end of year performance. Even Lila knew what big deal this was and traded her gym pants in for a cute dress. This year was so very bittersweet for us. All three of our kiddos were tucked under the protective and loving wings of the Montessori School of Exeter family. Tock and I owe so much to that school. Abby started her first year there when I was pregnant with Oliver, having just moved to Exeter from Vermont. We had no friends….for a really long time. But then came Montessori. Some of my closest girlfriends were made through those early years at Montessori.
Those early years of sending your little ones off to preschool are actually pretty difficult. You think you’re ready. You think they’re ready. But really, nobody is ready.
Well, that’s not entirely true. The teachers are ready. They know exactly what to do. They know that it’s so much better to pull your (kicking/crying/screaming/raging) child from the car rather than have you walk them in. They know that the very first day with your very first child is going to be so emotionally difficult for you that they will call you to reassure you that your child is doing just fine (and maybe they’re not doing fine, but they know it will just take time and that everything will be okay, and all they really have to do is say “she stopped crying” because they know when you hear those words, you will too).
We picked the right school for our family. We followed them from the spacious and magical Fort Rock Farm campus to the garden level of the Exeter Methodist Church. We felt lost the one year when we didn’t have anyone at the school, and fell right back into the routine when we enrolled Lila. And, I cried big, fat crocodile tears on the last day, just as I had on every single first day that came before it.
To the teachers who held my babies in their hearts for 10 months at a time: Meredith, Kay, Michele, Denise, Destiny, Natalie, and Bri: thank you. All of you are mothers, so you know where I’m coming from. Thank you for leaving your own families so you could take care of mine. We are forever grateful.