Blake's First Day of Kinder

I love this picture.  It kinda captures the moment of my oldest child going off to kindergarten quite well.  The rest of our family's shadows behind my brave and confident boy as he makes his way into the world of "real" school for the first time.  I have been a walking cliche of emotions these last few weeks.  Where does the time go?  They grow up so fast.  Etc. etc.  But it is ALL SO TRUE.  I woke up Monday morning feeling strong and put together.  Feeling proud and ready to send Blake off to kinder.  And then this picture showed up in my inbox from Blake's old gf's mom.

I blinked and Blake went from a little baby, not yet walking, to this kid...a big maturing boy walking ahead of his family, ready for this next chapter in his young life.  And I'm not going to lie, the tears flowed, poured down my face.  Geesh, they really do grow up so fast!  I am of course so proud of having a small hand in the boy Blake is today and am so glad I can watch him grow and learn and develop the skills he will need to be a successful man in this big scary world.  I guess I'm just sad that while the days may be slow at times, each year passes with increasing speed.  And before I know it the tears streaming down my cheeks will be as I get in the car driving away after dropping him at college.  But I will enjoy these moments now.  I will soak up the big giant hugs my big boy gives me at kindergarten pick up every afternoon.  The joy I feel in my heart seeing the smile across his face when he spots me at pickup.  The love I feel for him as he takes my hand to cross the street.  Yes, he's a big boy, but he's still small enough to hold my hand.  So I'll relish in this time, the short time we have in this sweet spot of his life, when he's still small enough to hold my hand and give me hugs in front of others, but big enough to be independent and go off to school all day without me.  Now hand me a kleenex....

And being reunited with his best friend at the end of the day...