Subtle Changes...

On the Mondays that I drive the girls to school, I usually ask them to list their favorite things that happened over the weekend. As with the Frog vs. Turtle debate, this often turns into a lively conversation (i.e. competition), requiring someone to moderate. Soon, the girls sit, eagerly waving hands in hopes they are the next picked to share their thoughts.

This summer, I had often thought about how fun this exercise was going to be on our first ride to school after the long summer break. I was excited to see if they remembered the shore, the trips to the grandparents, boat rides, etc. To see if they mentioned learning to play kick-ball, fixing the neighborhood tire-swing, or any other seemingly insignificant events.

Well, today was the first day of school and the conversation took place. It was memorable, but for entirely different reasons...

You see, when I posed the question today, I looked in the rear view mirror and only saw one little girl waiting to respond. A little girl, who's big sister was now a Kindergartener who'd be taking the bus. I instinctively told Olivia to raise her hand before commenting, but then realized the futility of that request. As she flopped her arm up while continuing to stare at the back of the passenger seat, you could see that Olivia realized it a lot earlier than her dad. You could see that she missed her big sister.

She was excited, scared & sentimental about being on her own. I guess that goes for both of us.