remembered from September 2001
Sending Joe off to school was an entirely different experience. He is much quieter than Corey, though I wouldn’t call him shy. I think he likes to think of himself as discerning. As with Corey, I took Joe to the store. Old Navy again, and told him he could pick out a new school outfit. Joey is less concerned with clothing than Corey is, and I think he just asked me to pick it out and could we go to the bookstore when we were done. I picked out a pair of khaki shorts and a red t-shirt for him to wear. Thinking how nice red would look on him with his dark hair and muddy, green eyes. I asked him what he thought,
“Cool! Can we go to Border’s now?” I gave him a hug and said of course. After we paid, I took him to the bookstore, let him pick out a book-probably a Magic Treehouse Book and treated us to a giant cookie and some chocolate milk.
On the first day of school, he woke up early with no extra help needed from me, put on his new clothes and waited for me to get his breakfast for him. Addi was young, and I was frazzled (more) easily in those days. I was rushing around trying to get their lunch ready, make sure everyone had breakfast, and then I heard a little voice, “Mommy, it’s time to go.” I stopped, and grabbed everyone’s backpack, put them on and picked up Addi to put him in his stroller. The bus stop was up the road from our house, maybe a five minute walk at the entrance to our neighborhood. I pushed Addi in his stroller, and watched the two older boys skip happily along anticipating the day to come. At the bus stop there were maybe 15 kids, from kindergarten to fifth grade. The boys liked the noise, the thrill of making new friends, and once again I felt that longing to hold on to a point in their life that was rapidly coming to an end.
When the bus pulled up, it was Joey that squeezed my hand a little tighter, while he bent over to kiss his little brother on the cheek.
“Bye mommy. I will miss you!” He whispered this to me, and stood on his tip toes to wait for me to lean over so he could give me a kiss, and then just like this older brother did two years ago, he climbed up those steps, although this time he had someone to show him the ropes. As the bus pulled away, I saw two little faces pressed to the glass with hands waving frantically to get my attention. Two down.

