School Days
Sure, the rest of the day will look the same when they return. This will not be a line of demarcation. Yesterday's issues will still be around to be addressed as ever before. But today is different.
Today both of your children go to school. Ok, one is pre-school. But it still has the word school in it, so it is a kind of school, just not the kind of school that is really school.
And it means that every week, Monday through Friday (well except for holidays, school vacations, summer break, sickness and maybe an occasional fake sickness) both of your children will head out the door (maybe sometimes with a little helping hand, or even a nudge or two) and into a new reality. One in which they get guidance on the ways of the world from others and you get to take a deep breath and remember, for just an instant or two, to say hello to someone you can barely recall. Yourself.
How long has it been? What have you been up to? Seen any good movies lately? Read any interesting books? You both know (you and other you) the answers. But this is your time to pretend.
Parenting is definitely an ultra marathon. It is nice though to come to a spot along the course where there is water for you to sip and maybe a snack to regenerate your energy and your spirit.
And so today, despite your trepidation that this transition will not be a simple one for your kids, that they may resist with every fiber of their being the immutable fact that they are growing up and must take on a different universe than the one in which they were so comfortable, you can bathe in the knowledge that today is a wondrous day for parent and child.
Not a transition, but the hint of one. Not a brave new world, but a glimpse of one. Not a new beginning but the beginning of something new.
A present for the entire family. The present. And a look into the future.