The Last First Day of School

I woke up this morning to realize that in two days my seventeen year old daughter will experience her last first day of school. She will be a senior this year and will graduate May of 2011. Where did all the years go? Of course I know I am not the only mother to wonder this, but it feels like I am. My feelings are mixed. I am happy that she has made it this far, yet I wish she were still ten. I wish she were still playing clarinet in the seventh grade band or running cross country in ninth grade or singing in the sixth grade choir or asking me to bring cupcakes to her fifth grade Halloween Party. What about all the beautiful Christmas pageants she has been in? What about her little backpack jiggling as she ran to catch the big yellow school bus? What about running in the door after school to give me a big hug and say so proudly "I have homework!!!!" The years have passed fastly by and now I am facing her very last first day of school. I want to throw a big party. I want to buy her a card. I want to get her a car, a cadillac, a limo, her own big yellow school bus. But I guess it's just another rite of passage, a time to reflect, to remember, to think back and to realize there is still time to enjoy one last school year.