First Day of School

Today was Peter's first day of school. It seems like just yesterday he was boarding that big yellow school bus bound for kindergarten. The 'cool bus, he would call it. Long before he started school, he would wait at the window in the morning, just to catch a glimpse of the bus. Tim gave him his first set of Matchbox cars, which included a yellow school bus and he carried that bus around forever. Not long ago, I finally cleaned out the toy drawers and took bins of Matchbox cars to the Goodwill, but I tucked that yellow school bus into my nightstand drawer.

Today, there were no school buses for Peter. Today, he drove himself to school and on the way I gave him the 'be thoughtful, be kind, be respectful' advice that I always give him on the first day of school. "Yep," was the response, but I also got a good-natured grin.

And today, there were no pictures. Because that would not be cool.

And today, there are braces on those teeth.

And today, ten years later, he's still a pretty sweet boy.