Recently, my son started kindergarten – or Casa, for those familiar with the Montessori school system.
He had a rough beginning, as expected from a little boy who has never spent much time in a social setting away from Mommy. The tears flowed the first day, and declarations of “I don’t want to go to school!” continued thereafter. However, now on his third week, he’s all smiles when I pick him up in the afternoon and his teacher is thrilled with the quick turnaround. Success!
Of course, I’ve had a rough time too.
And it’s not because I couldn’t let go of my little baby; it’s not because I would now be subjected to making packed snacks, wiping runny noses or being summoned for Pizza Day volunteer duty. Simply put, it’s because of this conversation that I had with my husband on Ryder’s first day of school:
Ring Ring Ring.
Husband: Hello?
Me: Okay, we officially have the crappiest SUV in the school drop-off line.
Husband: What are you talking about?
Me: I’m talking about the fact that I’m sandwiched between a Range Rover and a Cadillac Escalade, and right now I’m feeling quite uncool and insignificant. Too bad we didn’t still have the Acadia Denali on loan; we’d fit right in.
Husband: Stop bothering me with your first world problems.
He was right, of course – me complaining about my (moderately posh) SUV in contrast to some of the more flamboyant vehicles was silly, but one of the curses of living in a first world nation is having first world problems….