I recall Mom getting me ready-helping me get dressed, brushing my hair, eating cereal, and then I brushed my teeth and Mom double checked them to make sure I'd done a good job. Then...I remember this...the most vivid part of my first day...standing in the door of our living room looking out at the front yard through the storm door. Mom was bustling about trying to get Michele and her things ready to go, and I was in a trance. I remember that it was beautiful outside. Sunny, windy, green grass and blue skies. The leaves on the trees were being whipped around by the warm breezes and I was amazed that they didn't fly off. They seemed so delicate. As I stood there, I noticed the daisies that grew by our front porch steps. They were almost as tall as I was. They gently swayed back and forth as the air currents rushed through their little patch of the flower garden that Mom had planted with the help of our little hands. I wanted so much to be able to pull those little, tiny, white petals off so that I could see how they were attached to that pretty, bright, yellow center. I watched as purple and white petunia blossoms in Mrs. Smith's pots that she had on old tree stumps in her front yard reached for the sun to touch them. It seemed as if EVERYTHING was in slow motion. I was experiencing everything at once. The toys in the yard, flowers, leaves, the tree bark, the sandy dirt was being swept into dirt devils in the baseball park field at the end of our street... It was all right there. My world. My house, my yard, my toys, my mom, my little sister, my daisies. All I really wanted to do was stay there...in my world...and play with Mom and Michele. My tummy was all butterflyie (I coined a new world) but I knew that if Mom said it would be okay...that this Kindergarten thing...whatever it was, would be okay. I heard Mom say..."What are you thinking about, honey?" I don't remember what I answered, or even if I did answer her, but I knew things were about to change in my little world. My daisie daydream was interrupted when Mom said, "Okay, girls...let's go!" I can remember each of us on either side of Mom, holding her hands...my little 5 year old self and tiny 3 year old Michele. Mom had her sunglasses on and her purse was on her shoulder. Her hand was so soft, I never wanted to let it go. She was chewing her signature Wrigley's Spearmint gum I could smell that sweet scent as she bent down and kissed my cheek. I must of looked at her with big eyes, because she said, "You're going to make a lot of new friends today, and you'll be home in just a couple of hours!" With that, we walked out the front door, and the wind softly blew across my face, ruffled my hair, and ballooned my dress. We walked across the porch, down the steps and as we went by the daisies, I reached out and touched all of them that I possibly could without being too obvious. Maybe my way of taking them with me. That's the last thing I remember. I don't remember getting into the car. I don't remember getting to school, or meeting new kids, or meeting Mrs. Tatum, my kindergarten teacher...just the time before. It must have turned out okay, because I loved school. But, I remember the daisies.
I think this is actually my 1st grade picture...funny...I don't remember!
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