Fantastic First Day

I waited for this all day:

 My girl's bus. It comes at 2:50; I was waiting at the curb by 2:40. I missed her--so much--and I wanted to hear all about the first day. The waiting was almost more than I could take.

And then the bus pulled up:

 It's so big. I nearly bit through my lip waiting for her to come around the bus. My little angel:

She posed without me asking, and her smile said it all. She was so proud of riding the bus, and she looked so...grown.

She talked without taking a breath for the next twenty minutes. She loves first grade. She loves Ms. Wright. She loves P.E. and Coach B., who is very nice. She made a new friend, Luke, who helped her open her lunch container that got stuck. She made it across the monkey bars three times, and she earned three tickets. If she gets ten tickets by Friday she gets to go to the treasure box. My heart sang.

I opened her backpack and found a first day book she had written, and a half eaten ziplock of goldfish. I asked where they came from, and my heart sank. They have snack in the morning, and Ms. Wright gave everyone who didn't have one goldfish. I had no idea about snack. Panic must have crossed my face because Issa told me, "It's no big deal, Mom. Chill."

Chill. This girl who might have crumbled about a missing snack a year ago was telling me to chill. She's learned to cope. She's learned what matters, and what matters is that she had a great first day of first grade. My heart is still singing.