We Made It

It seems like only moments ago when I let the countdown begin - the last year of daycare.

Today's the last day.

All month, we've been counting down with Max. The last soccer class. The last swim lesson. The last Shabbat. And there was the "moving up" ceremony.

(Side note: I really dislike the controversy over the word "graduation" and how its meaning has been deluded by calling everything a "graduation," so we make up other things to call it, and end up sounding more ridiculous than we did when we say "graduation," but alas.)

Anyway, I cried. I was expecting the slideshow, produced by Udi Edni of Pix-R-Me, who has been the informal photographer at the JCC through all four years Max was there, but I wasn't expecting the photos to go back to 2009 and feature so many shots of my platinum-haired toddler. Or for it to be set to the Israel Kamakawiwoʻole version of "What a Wonderful World," the song that Hannah also sang at her "graduation" four years ago and that gets me going anyway...oy, it was all too much and I was blubbering away in the darkness. But I managed to pull it together by the end, having watched Max age four years right before my eyes. For all of my complaints about daycare (and if you know me at all, you know I have a lot of them), I am so incredibly grateful that he has been able to learn and grow in a safe, caring environment. Looking at the photos above, I know it's only the good stuff that I'll be remembering from here on out. 

For the past seven years, the JCC has basically been a daily part of our lives. I'm ready to move on, and so are my children. At least, we'll be taking a few weeks off before they're both back there for a month of camp. I guess we're not really going that far.