How sweet silence after kindergarten goodbyes!

“Because I Said So” column for The Commercial Appeal

Sept. 1, 2011

The school year began in earnest a couple of weeks ago when my 5-year-old daughter, Genevieve, began kindergarten. For the past year, her excitement has grown with the anticipation of going to Richland Elementary — the “big kids’ school.” That anticipation grew into a frenzy as we readied her backpack and lunchbox, and she picked out her first day’s uniform.

It had been several years since I had left a child at kindergarten. It’s time that helps a parent forget the tears and clinging. The buffer of years became mental solace as I had forgotten the sadness, the separation and the anxiety. Goodbyes that first morning were long and drawn out with one last hug, one last kiss, one last assurance. Finally, though, most of the parents were able to pull it together enough to leave. These were parents who’d been here before, professionals like me, and rookies who had never been away from their babies.

I walked back home that day with the thought of Genevieve’s tear-streaked face in my mind. I was surprised by how far out of my mind I’d put such scenes since the first time I ever had to be a part of it 13 years ago when my oldest began school. It’s something that comes crashing back like posttraumatic stress.

Another thing I’d forgotten? The quiet. The sheer nothingness that happens in a house when nobody is around. Back at home, I sat in my office and was blanketed in this nothingness. I walked to the back of the house where there were no children. Quiet. I stood in the kitchen where there were no children. More of that sweet, sweet silence. Even the living room, with its television in repose for the first time in months, was hushed. The whole day was like that. Every day since has been this way … (read more)