Wednesday 3 September 2008

IT BEGINS

Off he went in his new shoes and his red sweatshirt. Suddenly he looked so small. Well he is small but he looked all clean and tidy and small. But what he lacked in stature he made up for in enthusiasm. School has been a long time coming. He has waited in the playground all his life. Most of the teachers and a wide selection of pupils know him by name as the fourth in the Clark dynasty. He knows the routines, can name a few dinner ladies and is on chatting terms with the Headmaster. It really was time that he actually had a place in his own right.
We took photos and skipped off down the hill to school with Daddy in tow because of the momentousness of the occasion. In he went, finding his peg adorned with a picture of a bat on the way. Just time to give mum a big hug and a huge smile and he was gone. And that was it. Almost an anticlimax. No tears from either of us - not that I expected any. I have spent so long thinking about this day that I knew pretty accurately how I would react.
So I went home. On my own. I hadn't made a plan. It was very quiet.I am used to him not being there but this was different - more significant somehow. And so I sat at the table and tried to plan. Planning is what I do but not today.A quick clear up after breakfast and then in sat in the last few sun rays of the summer and read my book.

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