First Day of School - Tuesday, August 26, 2008

I felt like I was taking Alyssa to kindergarten all over again, rather than dropping her off for the first day of her Junior year in high school. I wanted to go with her to protect her and to ease her way, to be there if things didn't go smoothly. But, of course, that was impossible - she would have been horrified at even the thought! Instead, I dropped her off at a street corner close to the school, since traffic was backed up bumper to bumper way past the intersection I was trying to turn into, and watched her walk down the sidewalk, while my heart squeezed and my eyes brimmed with tears. Up to now, she had attended the 240 student high school in our tiny town in Iowa. This year she is attending a school with 2,400 students and she doesn't know a soul. As I crept slowly in front of the school in the congested traffic, I saw that the school grounds were teeming with hordes of students (700 more than the entire town of Reinbeck!). I glimpsed Alyssa, chin up and shoulders back, alone, as she entered the sea of students and was lost to my view. I was awed by her courage in the face of her fear. "Okay, Lord," I prayed, "You have promised that those who know you will trust in your name because you have never forsaken those who seek you. Watch over my baby today. I'm so grateful that You can walk with her where I cannot go."

She survived . . . even though they assigned her to the wrong chorus class and she had to spend 45 minutes in the office having her schedule rearranged . . . even though one class location printed on her schedule was incorrect and no one seemed to know where the class was meeting . . . even though she sat alone at lunch and only ate two bites of her sandwich and said she felt like she was on the verge of tears all day long due to stress. In spite of that, she took the initiative to go the the career counselor after school to inquire about lifeguarding jobs, and to find out the requirement for volunteer hours and the email address of the basketball coach to offer to be a team manager. It was a hard day, and she came home exhausted, but I think she's going to be okay. Now I can breathe . . . even as I continue to pray.