Today Preschool - Tomorrow the World

Last night Princess Elizabeth proudly celebrated a great achievement - her first graduation. She and her Junior Kindergarten classmates marched across the stage in their little red graduation caps, accepted their diplomas and smiled for the camera like old pros, then sang "Kindergarten Rock 'n Roll" complete with sunglasses and air guitars.

It was so dang precious I, of course, sobbed like a baby.

I heard a quote last week that rings oh so true to me now - "All change involves loss, and the loss must be mourned." Like every other mom there last night, I was absolutely thrilled that Princess E achieved this milestone, but oh, how it hurt at the same time. I couldn't help flashing back to memories of bringing her home from the hospital and flashing forward to all the graduations I pray she has in her future.

But I also couldn't help mourning the loss of that baby who snuggled in so close when I nursed her, and the toddler who wanted to watch "Shrek" 375 times a day, or the preschooler who was rather annoyed at first when we brought home Princess Grace to share her castle, and so proud when she learned to read her first word. As much as I'm thrilled she's ready to go to the Big K, I know it means a big jump into sleepovers, softball games and school uniforms. And I know she'll be jumping into high school in what will seem to be the blink of an eye...and that means she's jumping away from me.

So she'll jump...and I'll grieve, quietly. But I'll also celebrate her achievements and keep trying very, very hard to cherish every moment I can and build a stack of memories that will stay with me, even as the princess jumps away. Hopefully someday she'll jump back from whatever wonderful place she lands and want to hear all about her junior kindergarten graduation - and hopefully I'll still be here to tell her all about her polka-dotted dress that perfectly matched her first "big girl" necklace (a gift from the King & Queen), her little red graduation cap, and her killer air guitar performance.

Let's just keep the sobbing mommy part between us, okay? Gotta maintain my street cred, or we'll have anarchy in the kingdom before sundown. :-P