Some of you may remember a couple years ago a post I made regarding dropping my daughter off for her first day of preschool, both of us crying.
Well, today I dropped her off for her last day of preschool and it's taking all I've got to hold back the tears again. I still have to make it through their little graduation ceremony on Sunday complete with cap and gown! Bring on the Kleenex! She's taking summer off before starting Kindergarten.
Her teacher wrote each of the kids a little card and I about lost it. Here's what it said:
Amber,
You are a very special person and you should really know, how I loved to be your teacher, how fast the year did go.
Please come back to visit me as through the grades you grow, try hard to learn all you can, there is so much to know.
One thing I tried to teach you to last your whole life through, is to know that you are special, just because you are you.
Good luck in Kindergarten! I'm very proud of you!
Miss Shari
It has been a great ride so far. She is way smarter than I ever was. She learned to read at 4 1/2 and can add and substract. I think I was in 3rd grade before I learned math! She made a lot of friends and so did I. The school was fantastic and we will definately visit especially since one of the teachers is also now one of my dearest friends.
So anyway, I need to get back to work but I wanted to share this special day with my extended family. I'll post a graduation picture next week when I get finished with the Kleenex!
By the way, anyone know how to lose the red blotches from crying so I can have decent looking pictures with my baby after graduation!
*******EDITED TO ADD PICTURES*******
Here's some picts complete with the sign we just got up on Saturday. Turned into a good photo spot! I'll post more on the portfolio board later.
[ May 24, 2004, 08:10 PM: Message edited by: Amy Brown ]
Posted by Kissymatina (Member # 2028) on :
Do the pictures beforehand like they do at weddings.
Or get really good with photo-editing software. Posted by Suelynn Sedor (Member # 442) on :
Sorry Amy, I've got some bad news for you. As you get older, the crying gets worse. Soon you'll be crying when you see total strangers kids doing special things!! Ask me how I know!
Suelynn
Posted by Linda Silver Eagle (Member # 274) on :
Amy,
I know you are sooo very proud of Amber! Please tell her congratulaions for us all!
...oh by the way, chilled cucumber slices work well lol.
Posted by Bob Stephens (Member # 858) on :
Must be a chick thing. I can't recall ever crying once over my kids except for the time they finally left home. Those were tears of joy!
Posted by David Wright (Member # 111) on :
Well my daughter is getting married this weekend, I guess that will be one of those moments.
Posted by Stephanie Harding (Member # 4727) on :
Don't feel bad Amy. I never left the parking lot when my little one went to preschool. I just sat in the car and balled until it was time to go back in and pick him up. Thank goodness it was only a half day deal.
They grow up so fast, enjoy them while they're little.
Now that they are nearing their teens, I'm starting to see things more like Bob. LOL
Posted by faye adele welsh (Member # 4164) on :
honey, it never ends. i still get a lump in my throat and my kids are 35,29,25. when i see them all together,my heart fills and and so do my eyes.my kids are the best part of my life.they can be hellious, but mostly they just make me feel so loved.:)enjoy them . they are gifts from God.fiddles. Posted by Ray Rheaume (Member # 3794) on :
It's not just a chick thing, Bob.
While in Florida at Christmas time back in 1986, my daughter Michelle, who was just over a year old, dislocated her shoulder when a closet door turned on her. Once we'd gotten her to the hospital, they took her into the X-Ray department while we had to wait outside. Despite knowing that they had to position her arm to get good shots, it was the toughest thing in the world to hear my daughter cyring out for me just behind the door and not being able to go in and console her. I cried as much as she did.
Michelle is 19 now and just finishing her freshman year in college, and even after all these years, my heart still skips a beat remembering that day.
Rapid
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
had to check out this thread (never hurts to learn more about Girls... mushy or otherwise)
Cool, it's about kids! I've been there! I spent over 10 years doing the single parent thing (half of that as truly single... the other half was still w/o the mom) I was an honorary member of the single moms crew in that remote Hawaiian jungle communtity near the Waldorf school.
For the most part, tears weren't part of the equation but emotions were & I remember days like you mention Any.
Ray's story reminds me of a peak emotion when coming around the last turn on an awesome snowboarding run I found my daughter in a jumbled heap holding her head & crying. She was almost 20 then, so seemingly not really the same little girl I had consoled through her various tearful milestones in life, but that day I realized she would always be the same little girl to me & holding her till the ski patrol arrived on their snowmobile was sad & scary... but also a very meaningful highlight for me once I knew she had little more then a minor concussion to worry about.
Posted by Kissymatina (Member # 2028) on :
Doug, you're such a girl.
My stepson was 14 when I came into his life. We had some unpleasant times over the years, but I remember crying a couple weeks after he got his license cause I never saw him anymore. We had gone driving everyday together when he had his permit and had spent 2 summers at the RC airplane flying field several times a week before that.
I remember trying to show him how to put his cumberbun on for prom, how empty the house felt the night he moved into his first apartment, how he made me cry when he danced with me at my wedding and we talked. He called me a couple months ago to tell me he quit his job on the spur of the moment(unsafe issues, other management problems) and was gonna go to school. I was so thrilled he called me to talk to me about everything, even if it meant he was moving home and his old room had become storage which now needed cleared out.
He finished up school today, I of course went grocery shopping and tried to remember his favorites. He got home about an hour ago, I met him in the driveway. Had to tell me about the job offer he accepted today. I couldn't be prouder of him and I know I'll cry when he moves out this time cause instead of him being across town, he'll be across the state.
Posted by Myra Grozinger (Member # 327) on :
Amy, I remember the last pictures of Amber, and would love to see a new one, so don't forget to post it once the emotions stabilize.
I really know how you feel. One never forgets, I do mushy girl stuff for sure. My "kid" Mark went into Montessori at 3 and I cried at the door. I had told them he was reading thanks to Sesame Street, and I was proud of the prodigy. They called me a week later and said in essence I was a deluded and crazy mother, he did not even "know his sounds" . I said to Mark that if he did not show those people he could read within one day I would beat his butt hard. They called me back and said that they were so sorry, that now he was reading to the children about Dinosaurs, and did not even miss a beat on any of their long names.
I learned from that experience about how people, even as very little ones, adapt in order to be accepted into a group.
It is amazing what kids can learn to do. And it is also amazing how much difference it does not make, really, about when they learn stuff.
I later took a child out of the orphanage and finished raising her, she was 16 when I got her, and could not read. Once she could, and once she was set on her path, she made the most out of all her intellectual gifts of anyone I have ever known. And she is a wonderful, augmenting sister to Mark.
It has been great for me to meet both you and your husband. And one day I will meet Amber. I look forward to it.
Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
Well, maybe I'm really a girl too??? Those tears are not foriegn to me, and I hope never will be.
Posted by Santo (Member # 411) on :
I know it'll bring tears to my eyes, when I get my 2 boys through school. They will be tears of joy, that I held up my end, and they held up theirs.
Posted by Monte Jumper (Member # 1106) on :
I had one of my kids try to return home after being on his own...my crying did the trick...he re-thought the whole deal and moved on...I know what you mean about these special little moments in your lives...it's really touching
Glad you have such a sweety...oh by the way you'll be crying off and on the rest of your life so get used to it.
I hope Steve locks this post all this mushy stuff is hard to take...I get tears just thinking about it! Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
Real men cry sometimes. Nothing sissy about that.
Posted by Kissymatina (Member # 2028) on :
Geez, would you people get a grip?
I make 1 joking comment to Doug, addressed directly to Doug and with a smiley face and you people take it the wrong way & get all cranky. I'm sure Doug took it the right way, as a joke, seeing as we've joked around a lot before.
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
I'm in touch with my mushy side!
& I'd like to think that in some small way, by example, I've helped women like Kissy (not that she needed any help) to stay in touch with their arrogant S.O.B. side. (strictly in regards to their sense of humor, of course)
Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
From the "More Male Mush Department": We took our daughter to the airport yesterday for her trip to study in Mexico for the summer. Not as many tears as her first day of kindergarten, but I still get misty-eyed. Seems like only yesterday.............
Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
Got all teary eyed when she was born. Went hysterical whenever she got hurt. Tears of joy a number of times. Laughed till I almost cried alot of times. She is graduating from high school tomorrow night. At least it's not her wedding ...yet
Same with my two boys.
I sniffled at my buddy's wedding last year. How embarrassing.
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
same here...our oldest daughter kept to herself her plans in the school cross country race last month. She'd been running pretty slowly in training (but only when others were around) so no one really had any idea how fit she actually was. She stayed at the back of the pack for the first half of the race, then on a particularly nasty hill she zipped to the lead and from there just increased her lead, eventually beating the whole high school, boys included. You should have seen the 'hotshots' trying to keep upwith her! It was very hard tring to focus the camera at the finish line too...when your eyes are watering over & you can't keep your hands still.
The other kids manage to each come up with their own kind of similar occasions often enough, too...
Posted by Danny Brown (Member # 4729) on :
Kinda makes it all seem worthwhile,Huh?? Danny
Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :
Gee Amy this WAS a sweetmushy post . . . .
Good grief . . . I got choked up over all the guys sweet werds . . .Way-Yuhhh!!!
Suelynn . . .I get teary watchin' ALL the grades (K-5) at the end-of-school-year play . . . doin' Broadway musicals . . .HOW CUTE they are!! Other parents near me notice and ask, "Which one's yours?" and I hafta say, "None in THIS class . . .but they're just SO sweet!!!" Posted by Mark Fair Signs (Member # 289) on :
this is not a mushy girl post amy!
my daughter is 13 and is working with me this summer. so far me and her have had some good old heart to heart talks about life in general.
my "baby" knows "Daddy" will always be there for her.
children change your life.
God Bless Them,
mark
Posted by Roy Frisby (Member # 736) on :
I'll betcha ole dad doesn't stand a chance with two pretty girls like that in the house. You did real good Amy, she's beautiful.
Posted by Michael Berry (Member # 2604) on :
It's pretty amazing how kids change you life. My son just turned 2 on April 8th. I look at things so differently, don't take nearly as much for granted!
Great story Amy!
Posted by Alan Ackerson (Member # 3224) on :
Congratulations Amber and Amy. It's a special time.
My little girl is about the same age and there is nothing better than tears of joy for your own child. They know how to turn you into butter real quick. Posted by Alan Ackerson (Member # 3224) on :
Congratulations Amber and Amy. It's a special time.
My little girl is about the same age and there is nothing better than tears of joy for your own child. They know how to turn you into butter real quick. Posted by Myra Grozinger (Member # 327) on :
Yeah, thanks Amy for posting the picture. You all are beautiful, but she is the top. I marvel always at how a kid WILL change your life, augment it and diminish it at the same time only those who don't have any have to guess what I'm talking about Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
I have a suggestion. When I did the high school graduation invitation for my one son, I put the photo of his first day of school in one corner and his Senior picture in the other....it made for a nice card. I know that SEEMS like that is a long time from now, but you'd be surprised how fast it goes! Also, don't miss any of her events!! I think that is one of the best things you can do for your kids. BE THERE, and when they look out in the crowd, you will be doing this.... Posted by Janette Balogh (Member # 192) on :
Great photos. Such beautiful smiles. Makes you happy just seeing them.
Nettie
Posted by Jillbeans (Member # 1912) on :
What a cutie, Amy. Enjoy the tears now, by the time she's 16 you will want to wring her neck! I know I sound cynical. But altho I rarely cry, I do get that "heart's too big for my chest" feeling when any of my 3 kids do something like that. Enjoy her while she's young. Love...Jill
Posted by Kathy Joiner (Member # 1814) on :
She is beautiful! It is hard to believe that she is that old allready!
Yall make me feel soooo old. My girls are 13 & 16. Not daughters....Grand-daughters!
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