I Did A Lot.
I didn’t expect to get through Shane’s elementary school graduation without sobbing.
After all, I cried through the entire thing when Dylan graduated. My baby is going to middle school! I thought, worried sick that the three years ahead of him were going to be brutal. And they were.
But at Shane’s graduation, I felt almost upbeat. (Yes, I am still taking my amino acid.)
My baby is finally leaving elementary school! I thought. Instead of worrying about the upcoming three years for Shane, I recognized that this is an opportunity for him. He gets to choose some of his classes now. He’ll have seven different teachers, and he’ll be exposed to all the different teacher personalities. He’ll be able to sit where he wants to sit at lunchtime, instead of at an assigned table.
After school, he has the opportunity to play a variety of intramural sports: softball, baseball, basketball, football, even ultimate frisbee. If he’s not feeling up to sports, he can be in the school play, drum in the jazz band, help the school recycle on Green Team, write or take pictures for the school newspaper, or be on the Morning Show.
I guess it helps, having watched one son go through the process already. There are good points about public middle school.
It also helps that, since Shane is my youngest child, I am stepping out of my PTA role. I tried to join the middle school PTA before, but it was a lot of debate and discussion, without much else going on. There were many bake sales – and I don’t bake. I helped with the book fair, which I still intend to do. But for the most part, my PTA role is going to shrink.
When my kids were in elementary school, I did a lot. I helped with class parties. I coordinated movie night – including a school-wide poll and marketing campaign. I was the teacher appreciation person, and took in breakfast for staff every month for a year. I volunteered at book fairs, and spent hours xeroxing for teachers. I helped run the school talent show. I coordinated magic classes, sat through cultural assemblies, wrote letters for staff files, volunteered at holiday events and on field days. I chaperoned dozens of field trips. I wrote, designed and edited the school newsletter for two schools and eight years! I even designed the t-shirts for the school graduation.
I’m not even sure that’s everything.
I can’t count how many times people asked me to be PTA president – a job I would have hated beyond measure. I am a follower, first of all – not a leader. I hate PTA meetings. And I’m NOT even really a devoted PTA parent.
I’m actually quite selfish. Most of the things I did were just things I wanted for my own children – and no one else stepped up. I wrote the newsletter, for example, because I always got the dates for upcoming school events before anyone else did. It helped me to plan my own life.
So when I was watching – with awe and indelible pride – as Shane walked across the stage to receive his 5th grade diploma, my feelings of sadness were overwhelmed by a somewhat stronger emotion:
Relief.
Yes, my baby is leaving elementary school. And I am, too.