Good-bye, Friends...

Today was Joshua's preschool graduation, and it has been a very emotional day for me. We have had the best experience this past year being a part of this school and it is so bittersweet now that it has come to an end. Being a part of ICNS has been such an
unexpected blessing in our lives because I never knew when we started there how incredible it would turn out to be for our family. The school's director told me that Joshua flourished during the school year. He made such a wide circle of friends and he will forever be a better person because of those associations. I made many sweet friends and acquaintances as well and just loved the way I felt when I was at the school, among that particular group of people. Lots of people commented that it was a really great group of parents this year, and I feel so lucky that it was the one year we were there!


I think my favorite memories of the school really sum up our experience for me; when I would drop Joshua off at school for the afternoon, many of his friends were already there as they started at 12 for the lunch hour. Whenever they saw him arrive, they would yell, "Joshua! Joshua! Joshua's here!" And they would form a happy little circle around him. He would usually say, "Let's go race on our bikes!" and they would all run outside and race to their hearts content. It just felt so great to see how genuinely happy they all were to see each other and to enjoy those relationships in their pure form, as children, before growing up comes along and complicates all that.


Anyway, I could go on and on, but I'd better not. Okay, maybe just a little more. I am the most nostalgic person I have ever met, and it was so hard to see Joshua's empty cubby at school, to look around the school and see the cheerful artwork on the walls, and to know that it has all come to an end for us. Change is so hard! I have to tell myself that it is a positive thing that I am feeling this way. It would be less painful to leave the school with indifference or even discontent, but that would mean that we wouldn't have had the amazingly enriching experience that we did over this past year. Of course we can grow through adversity and challenges, but this experience has taught/reminded me that we can also grow under ideal circumstances, circumstances that allow us to thrive and be who we really are. This truly happened for us at ICNS, and I will be forever grateful.