The Little Transitions of Life

For some 15 years now I have been doing the same thing every day of the school year. My job has always been to take my kids to school. It's been an event that I have thoroughly enjoyed for the last decade and a half. In the early years it was a time to talk and find out what they were anticipating for the day. As they grew older and became teenagers it was more a time of silence or listening to the radio. Neither of my kids are really "morning people" so the past few years they haven't been real big on conversation at 8:00 in the morning!

I can still remember the first time I dropped Ryan off at day care in China Spring, Texas. He was about three years old and up to that point in his life Tami had been a stay at home Mom, but I was going back to school to get my doctorate and she needed to work for "tuition" money. I cried all the way to the church that day! After I finished the degree Alyssa was born and Tami was again a stay at home Mom.

When Ryan began preschool in Pleasanton I took him to school. When he went to Kindergarten and First Grade in Pleasanton I took him to school. When we moved to Denton and he started second grade I took him to school. You get the point! Alyssa joined our trips when Ryan was in third grade and for a few years I took them together. Then Ryan moved on to Middle School and the trips were separate again. I took Ryan to Ryan High school for the last time in September of 2005 when he got his driver's license. But I have still been taking Alyssa since then.

For the past couple of years Alyssa and I would listen to WBAP on the way to school. She got to know the personalities on that station and we had some fun with that. But she sort of "grew out of that" last year and it has been KSCS or The Wolf since then. But one thing has never changed in 15 years at least for Alyssa. When we arrived at the school before she would get out of the car she would lean over to my side of the car for a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. Even at 15 she still did it!

I have known it was coming all year long. The last time I would take one of my kids to school. The last time we would ride together in silence or me asking questions and getting really short answers. The last time to listen to a favorite song together on the way. The last time for her to lean over for a quick hug and a kiss. I knew it was coming and this week it did. I took a kid to school for the last time! Alyssa will get her driver's license at the end of June and when school starts back in August she will drive herself to school.

In some ways I'm really sad. Its the end of an era, one of those little transitions in life that we all experience. I'm certainly excited to see my kids grow up and begin new things but I have to admit I'm going to miss those morning rides to school, the conversations, the songs on the radio, and most of all I'm going to miss the hugs and the kisses. But at least we still have her at home for two more years before the next little transition!