He was ready 40 minutes ahead of schedule.
"Now what do I do?" he asked. "You could go play," I suggested, as his eyes registered disbelief. "Or, you could make your bed."
He went bounding upstairs, only to bound back down a couple minutes later. "OK, I made my bed. Is it time to go now?"
Our departure time finally arrived. We walked the two blocks to the bus stop, my son asking "What if" and "How will" questions all the way. My husband and I answered his questions as best we could, steering the conversation toward all the fun, new things he would experience in school. We asked the first-grader at the bus stop for the inside scoop on kindergarten.
As the bus pulled up, my son looked at me, a tear forming in one eye. Holding back my own tears, I smiled, gave him a big hug and kiss and held his hand tight all the way to the steps of the bus.
He climbed aboard.
