The First Day!!

Dropping Robby off at school yesterday was heart wrenching. He was nervous about going to a new school, and although he was trying to be brave, I could see the tears welling in his little brown eyes.  I knew that he would be okay and that he would adjust, but I cried as I drove away from the school. I am proud of myself for not crying in front of him. Being a Mom is not easy!

I drove straight from his school to pick up Mr. Bill for our scheduled Cracker Barrel breakfast. As predicted, he teased me the entire drive about my worrying tendencies and my back-to-school tears. In an effort to keep me distracted, he proceeded to spend the next hour regaling me with tales of his youthful exploits. Truth be told, I could have happily gone my whole life without hearing about his intimate triumphs. I am fairly confident that I'm not going to be able to look him in the eye without blushing for a long time.

After breakfast I dropped Mr. Bill at home and went to the hair salon. Getting a new style, color and highlights seems to be my back-to-school tradition. With my hair fully foiled, I sat under the dryer and fired up my IPad.  After verifying that my Hotspot Shield VPN was working (I don't trust surfing on public networks without a buffer) I was able to escape into Facebook. Time flew by!

Although I continued to fret and worry, being pampered certainly helped to ease my anxieties. By the time I was done I had a smoking hot new hairstyle and a renewed sense of optimism. Of course, the fact that I only had an hour until I got to pick up Robby probably contributed to my lightened mood.

All of my worries evaporated as soon as I saw my little guy. He was smiling from ear to ear, chatting with new friends. He greeted me with a hug and kiss, stopping to announce to his classmates that he was going to hug me everyday because "She is my Momom and I love her lots." He then grabbed my hand and eagerly pulled me to his new cubby. He pulled out a handmade orange card and proudly read the words he wrote inside: "I love my Momom because she is special and nice." For the second time that day, I felt myself fighting back tears.

After gathering Robby's belongings I was inundated by his new classmates, all shouting questions about my prosthesis. I could tell that the teacher didn't quite know how to handle the topic. She looked relieved when I offered to give a brief presentation on my amputation and prosthetics later this week. I couldn't help but notice the little girl in Robby's class who also has a limb loss. Hopefully my discussion with the class understand her issues as well.