Invented By Germans

So Monday was Sam's first day of kindergarten. In this day and age there seems to be less drama about starting kindergarten. Maybe because Sam has been in day care his entire, young life. Or maybe because every parent has his or her own drama - what's it to them that your kid is nervous about starting school.

In any case, to assuage five years of personal guilt and apprehension about school, I took off last Friday so Sam and I could have a Friday Fun Day. One whole day to do only what he wanted. I resisted every urge to slip into Anthropologie or convince him he could find a new pair of shoes at Banana Republic.

We started the day at IHOP, since pancakes are one of the food groups in Sam's food pyramid. Once we were teetering between satiation and nausea we headed to Zeus Comics for comic books and action 'figgers.' After Zeus, we hit Dave & Buster's for video games and lunch. Two hours later, it was the movie Underdog with his best buddy Owen. After the movie we had 30 minutes to browse through Froggies, a five-and-dime you could spend hours in, before heading to a classmate's house for a pool party.

It was a whirlwind day but we enjoyed each other's company. Sam's at the wonderful age where he can be goofy, mature, responsible and irresponsible in the course of a few minutes. He can carry on a serious conversation ... while holding his stuffed dog Sparky. He'll be excited to play "big kid" video games, but he'll still hold your hand. We've done a lot of handholding these past few days. Which leads me to ...



That is the face I had to leave on Monday morning. Me and hundreds of other parents, I realize. My gut instinct was to grab him and run screaming from the building, shielding his eyes and head from the fallout. Home schooling briefly entered my mind. For the next two hours I imagined the miserable life he would have because I had abandoned him in kindergarten.

Fortunately, at pick up, he was unscathed. He made a friend. He figured out his lunch. He gave the day a thumbs-up. So, we went back yesterday. And today. One of these days I hope it will be easier. One of these days we won't cling to each other like we were drowning. Probably about the time Jake starts school.