Interview with Jireh About Her First Day of School

Yesterday was Jireh's first day of Kindergarten. Everybody knows I'm a huge proponent of being prepared in advance so that states of emergency are limited. However, as my daughter's first day of school approached, I found myself in a panic. I'd placed some important forms away for "safe keeping," which ended up being hidden even from myself!

Now, imagine this. School supplies? Check. (Thanks, Sean!) Shoes and clothing? Check. (Again... Thanks, Sean!) Paperwork? Filled out. Documentation? Uhhh.... Missing!
When I tell you that I completely DESTROYED my house looking for these forms... I'm going to be cleaning ALL weekend!

Anyway, we finally get Jireh to school, and she's excited.

Then, she learns that she's not going to be in the class with her cousins Brielle and Moriah, who ARE in the same class. Tears began to well. You already know me. Seeing my child, I started crying. (Side note: I used to do the same thing in church during testimony service. If my mom started crying, I cried too. I don't know why. Most of the time, I was deep into a game of pencil-break until I heard her voice. But just the idea of her crying made me cry. Anyway....) When I tell you I was crying, I was "deep off" in it. Snotting and everything. I'm sniffing as hard as I can, but that cry snot is just too loose. I just had to go wipe my nose. TMI, I know but it's real.

So, I get Jireh to her class and she starts tearing up again. Of course, I do too. Then, out of nowhere comes her friend Alex. He wraps his arms around her, exclaiming, "JI-REEEEHHHHHH!!" Although she still had tears in her eyes that whispered, "Mommy, please don't leave me," I knew she'd be ok. So, I walked away with more tears, went to the bathroom and wiped my eyes and nose, and went to work.

At the time school let out, I wanted to call to find out how her day had gone. Instead, I decided to "interview" her once I got home. It was a few hours after she'd gotten out of school. So, I was extremely anxious and excited. Much to my disappointment, she couldn't care one way or the other. She just wanted to finish her snack.

After this, we had dinner and prepared for the next day.

We got ready this morning, and on the way to school, I asked Jireh if she knew how to get to her classroom. I could hear her voice begin to crack as she asked, "Aren't you going to take me to my class?" Yeah..... I started tearing up, too.

"I don't think I can. I can walk you to the front door, though. Is that okay?"

"No, I want you to walk me to my class."

"I'll see if they let me. If they say it's okay, I'll walk you to your class this time; but next week, you'll be going by yourself. Okay."

She sighingly replied, "Okaaayyy." Hearing the sadness in her voice made me sincerely hope I could walk her to her class.

When we arrived at the school, through my side mirror, I could see what appeared to be my sister-in-law's car a few cars behind us. Sure enough, once we parked (you know, so I could walk Jireh to her classroom), my sister-in-law stopped behind us, and my nieces jumped out the car! Their mom yelled out the window, "Have an awesome day!" and drove off. They acted like they didn't even hear her. The girls were just excited to see each other. They always are, even if they'd just seen each other a few minutes prior.

So, we're walking to the front door, and I'm talking to Jireh about going to her classroom. Allayna tells Moriah that she'll walk her to her classroom. Moriah waves her off saying, "You can just take Jireh. I'm going to my class BY MYSELF!" After hearing that, Jireh says, "Mommy, you can just walk me to the front door. I'm walking to my class by myself."

Just like that, I was dumped. However, I still managed to grab this quick picture before we parted ways.