Today was JK's Jr high orientation. I was expecting this to be a day of taking care of business as we loaded into the car and headed to the school to pick up a class schedule, pay for an ASB card, sign up for Jr high football, and get a locker assignment and combination.
As we pulled into the Jr high parking lot, I looked at my sweet boy sitting by my side and saw the anxiety swimming in his eyes. I grabbed his hand and reminded him it would be fine and that he would do amazing. Because he will... He will do amazing. He's just that kind of kid, the first born that makes parenting seem way to easy.
We walked into the Jr high (no longer hand in hand, that would be too embarrassing) and found the line for picking up class schedules. After being handed a sheet of paper with seven classes listed and a teachers name that looked just a little bit familiar, my emotions started to overwhelm me. It was staring at this list with my sons name on the top of it with to many classes, room numbers and a locker assignment on it that got the tears to swell. It was looking over this list that triggered a picture of my sweet boy in the form of his five year old self wandering lost in the halls too embarrassed to ask for directions, followed by an image of him working hard to unlock a stubborn combination that just wouldn't budge as the bell rang and the halls cleared out ensuring him to be tardy to class. It was in this same moment that these images took over my mind that I overheard my 4 year old saying "JK you are so lucky to go this school. I can't wait until I get to go to school here, too!" that I knew that I had to quickly wipe the tears that were getting too close to spilling over away and try my best to compose myself before the waterworks really started.
After I was able to take control of my emotions and we got all of the official business out of the way we went off to explore the new halls that will be JK's home away from home for the next two years. I assume we did what all parents and there new 7th graders do... We did a walk through. We entered the school where JK will enter in the morning. We then found his locker and walked to each classroom in the order that his classes will take place. We did this three different times with me guiding and then twice with JK leading the way. We then spent several minutes with him practicing opening his locker. His bottom locker that he has to get on his knees to open. I wish that they would take the size of kids into consideration when assigning lockers as opposed to doing it in alphabetical order. A little girl scouting out her new locker just a few down from JK had to get on tippy toes just to get into hers. :/
After spending two hours at the school and JK recognizing a ton of kids from his football team his nerves seemed to have subsided and he stated how excited he was for this new adventure he was getting ready to embark on. My anxiety on the other hand had doubled. While the school is beautiful, it seemed huge to me. His class schedule has him moving between three different wings all day long and his locker is a pain to get into. I know in my heart he will do fine, It's just my imagination that's out of control.
Oh, and the teacher who's name looked familiar to me, well that's because she was one of my teachers in high school! She was so excited to see me and was even more excited to be teaching one of her former students children for the first time in her career. She was amazing when I had her, so knowing that she is JK's advisory teacher certainly makes sending him off to the halls of Jr high, just a little easier for me to deal with.
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