The Life and Times of Jennifer Weems

Well, it seems arriving to school by 8:15am is humanly possible, despite previous claims to the contrary. Today was Abbey's first day to be dropped off before the bell, so running to class in a full sprint was not necessary. This proved a little confusing for my baby.

Normally, the school has a militant rule on the kids allowed in the first gate, pictured just behind the kids here. The only kids allowed through this gate are Kindergartener's, no exceptions. This gate is also closed and locked at random times, often before the 8:15 bell even rings. It's a very confusing system and the only people allowed to know the rules are the people with the keys. I could go on regarding the gate nonsense. I digress. Abbey did not see her teacher so Andrew got as close to the Kindergarten gate as he could and gave Abbey a small shove and pointed her in the right direction. She continued for a bit than turned around in a panic to her brother and said "I don't know my class!". The very brave brother approached the all powerful gate keeper and asked to walk his sister to her class. He then proceeded to walk her past the gate close to the doors and I saw him point to her door. He turned to walk to his appropriate spot in the playground for the non-Kindergarten students. Abbey turned to me in the car, eyes full of tears, and threw her arms down by her side. She was preparing for a full on panic. Just as I put the car in park, I noticed a my Andrew running from across the lot to his sisters side. Just when I thought he was off to third grade land for social hour, he still had his eye on his sister. He ran up to Abbey and bent down for a hug. He spoke to her, stood up, threw his arm around her shoulder and escorted Abbey to her classroom door and waited with her until she found a familiar face.

After a summer full of screaming, scratching and the occasional eye gouge I thought the days of best friends were becoming a distant memory. I was so proud of Andrew today taking care of his baby sister. I also knew he took great pride in coming to her rescue. With my hand on my heart and my eyes full of tears, I noticed Abbey shoving Andrew away and with hands on her hips, I'm sure she let him know that he was too old to be on that side of the campus or maybe how much he was embarrassing her. I had to laugh. I'll take my moments as I get them, someday we'll all sit back and laugh.