Jorja's First Day

Jorja's first day was...quite an experience. 

My new wake up time is 5am and I normally blink slowly until 5.30am, when my eyes have acclimatised to being open! At 6am I start rousing the children and normally I can never tell how well that's going to go down. Today, Jorja woke first and Ethan slept on. In fact, he slept through me blow drying my hair right next to his head!

Jorja asked for toast and tea, then changed her mind on the toast and had Frostie Flakes. Then when her dad forbid her from taking his travel mug to school with the tea in it, she declined the tea too.

After breakfast she got dressed and her Ma came to wish her well just before 7am. We left at 7.15am and hoped that we'd arrive at school by around 7.45am. In fact, we were going to try and drop Ethan first, but when we saw the non-moving traffic on Racecourse road, Jorja actually asked that we just drop her first because she didn't want to be late. 

We found a parking place somewhere down the school street and the four of us piled out of the car and walked towards the gate. Jorja was speed walking and PJ and I were dragging our feet just a little! 

Once inside the gate, she checked for her name on the class list, took off her jersey, hung up her bag and went to play. She greeted us goodbye from the jungle gym! At this point, PJ and I were feeling clueless. Were we doing our child a disservice by leaving before 8am - never mind joining in the Assembly and staying for the settling-in-class time? A couple of the veterans recommended that we do whatever worked for her...so we left. 

Sitting in traffic on our way to drop Ethan, we debated turning around - we debated past an accident, over a 4-way stop and another 5 minutes - and then we turned around and I literally jumped out of a moving car to go and see what Jorja was up to! 

The bell had rung by now and the kids were lined up. By the time I got closer, I realised that Jorja's class had already started filing into the hall for Assembly. I quickly asked one of the other parents if there had been any unruly shouting, crying or running in the direction of the gate, coming from the Grade RR class - no one had seen anything out of the ordinary.

I sent a message to PJ and Ethan sitting in the car and told them that I had decided to stay for Assembly. Sure, Jorja was being oh-so-independent...but this was her first Assembly. Ever. I was not going to miss it.

A few minutes into the meeting, I saw Jorja's shoulders sink and her head drop. I guess that's when the penny dropped.

She walked over to her Teacher, Miss Hewland, and buried her face in her skirt. I clenched every muscle - from my jaw to my glute - to stop myself from 1) crying and 2) running over to reassure my big girl that she was going to be okay. I almost couldn't bare to see her cry. In that moment, the cheekiness, clumsiness, bad attitude and testing of the morning at home fell away and I wanted her to know how much I cared for her.

Just now I'm thinking about my reaction to seeing Jorja in an uneasy situation. I'm a mere mortal - and yet I felt so overwhelmed with compassion for her. How much more doesn't our Heavenly Father love us despite our character flaws and failings? We are so blessed!

Jorja and I (from our different positions in the Hall) managed to make it through the Assembly without crumbling into a heap of turn back the clock and when I watched her file out with the rest of her class, I let out a sigh of relief. By the time I got to the gate, I looked back and saw her skip-walking in the quad as they congregated around their Teacher. 

We were all going to be okay.

From 11am I started counting down the minutes until I would fetch Jorja from school. PJ and I were beside ourselves with excitement - he even made me wait for him at the gate so that we could walk in together and give each other an equal chance of a warm reaction from the little Miss! She smiled, she did, and then she scrunched up her face and said, "But Mommy, I want to stay!"

That's great my girl - you'll be back tomorrow...

You know, for a Mom that loves to write and a Dad that loves to talk on the phone, I don't think we've done enough talking with Jorja about preparing her - who the principal is and what that means, how to look after her belongings and when to sit quietly without question. I must admit, her Teacher said it was 'challenging' today and again, admittedly, I felt disappointed. But who am I kidding? I was there - it was challenging for me too! Until I realised that I have nothing to be disappointed about. A real bummer would've been receiving a call from the principal on the first day of the academic year, asking me to fetch my child because she was screaming the roof down! 

She's fast asleep now and tomorrow we'll do it all again. I'll need all the grace I can get!