I made it through yesterday morning alright, though I shed a few tears and The Girl announced at least once during breakfast that Mama was "wying." It started pouring rain as we drove away from our house, which suited my mood pretty well. The walk from the farthest parking lot up a hill past a million John Kerry bumper stickers didn't help much, but I started to feel better once we got inside.

The classroom is lovely, and The Boy had a wonderful time playing and running around with the other kids (except for one mean girl who took the bandana away that he was using). He made a playhouse, went outside in the rain and plowed the sandbox with a rake, pretended to be a prince and just bounced around having fun.

I chatted with some of the other moms and even though politically we will never agree, we do share other common ideas and I think we are making a good choice in this school. I still don't know if he'll stay there for real school, but I like what they are doing with the little ones a lot.

Today is the BIG DAY though. Today I take him to school, sign him in and leave. I think The Girl and I will go to the library or something afterward and maybe when I pick him up at lunchtime I'll take him out to eat. If I'm lucky he'll be in his mango lassi requesting mood and not his burger and fries mood. Either way, this is the day of one of the first big separations. My son is growing up. I'm happy, sad, and ambivalent all at once.