The Voyagers

in anaïs & i

 I really didn't expect it to be so hard to believe, but Q graduated from preschool today. 

It was her first year of school (she didn't go when she was three - I wasn't ready to give her up yet). Honestly, it has been such a full and fun year that the end of the schoolyear kind of snuck up on us. Also, they kept insisting that the final day was a "continuation" day, not a graduation ceremony. So, really, I expected a cake and a picnic. I did NOT anticipate a full ceremony complete with carefully-rehearsed graduation songs (how did they sneak that on us??) blue felt mortar boards, and certificate presentations onstage.

 With all this pomp and circumstance, I have to admit that the fact of her first graduation hit me a lot harder than I expected.

 My little girl, so grave and respectful, receiving her reading medals and congratulations. Keeping her hat on, even (she hates hats).

 Gracefully accepting her hugs and kudos from the heros of her preschool year, Ms. Patty and Mr. Sanford.

 I guess that I more or less took preschool for granted. I myself went to so many different schools (probably a dozen), had so many different teachers and classmates that preschool really faded into the far distance of my academic history. But for Q, this year of school has been truly exceptional. She has loved and treasured every single day of it, and lamented when the weekends came. She has worshipped her teachers, doted on her classmates, and lived every moment of it to its fullest.

 And for her, graduation day was a real, significant event. She took it seriously. The pride and honour was written all over her face.

 I love the gravity with which she performed her final songs...

 ...and with which she bid her farewells.

 

I love the glow of true pride in her accomplishment. 

 I love how fully she participated in every moment of the process, shrugging nothing off and taking nothing for granted.

 She will miss this year. She will miss her beloved Mr. Sanford, one of the best teachers with whom I've had the privilege of interacting. I can't even express how grateful I am that Q had both Mr. Sanford and his assistant Ms. Patty as the guardians who introduced her to education. She could not have been more fortunate. A truly great teacher is one of the greatest gifts that life can offer, and here she has had two of them in her very first year of school.

But I'll stop gushing...

 In any case, graduation ceremony was followed by a leisurely picnic in Berkeley Park, and a long, luxurious, play-filled final day with her ECE classmates, whom she will miss dealy.

 View from our picnic blanket on a crystal-clear spring day.

in mini & maximus

 Dancing with joy. That's a good way to ring out the school year.

I can only hope that next year (new school, new teacher, new classmates) will live up to this one for Q. The bar has been set high.