Every mom of a school-aged child has done it. School supply shopping for your first child for the first time is both an exciting and heart splitting task that MUST. BE. DONE. Is it me, or does the summer seem so short all of the sudden. I mean, I feel like when I was a kid, school didn't start until mid-September. My memory is likely incorrect, however, and more likely I'm just an anxious momma whose baby is about to start KINDERGARTEN. So, I thought I'd share my experience with you all from the perspective of a momma who had no idea what she was embarking on. I'm a storyteller after all, and my babies are the subject of my best adventures!
So, there I was, just a kid-free mom strolling the aisles of Target. Alone. I was uninhibited, focused, and sipping on a grande black coffee doing what one usually does when they're alone in Target: filling my cart with things I did not need nor planned to buy. Obviously, the 17 A New Day tank tops (that were on sale), Hearth and Hand eucalyptus garland (which looks amazing on our fireplace), and the eight boxes of assorted character bandages from the dollar section that I needed were left off my mental shopping list on accident. That is what happens when you are free in your zone.
Some call this basic, I call this bliss.
So, anyways, I was walking along minding my business in the candy aisle when it caught my eye: the BACK TO SCHOOL signs with arrows reminding me of the inevitable truth that I had to face. I've been struggling since May (when I registered H for kinder) with the idea that my teeny tiny little babe is now a big girl, complete with big girl thoughts, an "I can do anything" attitude, and a heart filled with love and compassion like no other kid I've seen will be STARTING KINDERGARTEN. Where did the YEARS go? How are we already to this point? Did I blink and miss everything. NO! STOP. I decided I needed to brave that section once and for all. After all, how bad could it be?
You get some kind of courage when you're all alone in public without the kids. I had that courage, and that courage got me in trouble. I used to love school supplies, now I'm nauseous. Yeah, yeah, yeah, "What a drama queen," you're probably thinking. I used to think that, too, until it happened to me. So there I am in the middle of the pencils and wide-ruled Mead notebooks with cat-mermaids and unicorns on the cover, wondering what in the heck I was thinking. What was I doing? I couldn't possibly do this...ALONE!
I pulled up my big girl panties, and the kindergarten supply list on my phone, got hand sanitizer, Clorox wipes, Kleenex, and some other "classroom wishlist" items, and high-tailed it out of there. If I was going to do any kind of school supply shopping, I was going to need help.
As terrifying as this time is for me (which admitting is hard), it is also precious. My baby is growing up before my eyes, and I'm so grateful and proud of the little person she is. I knew I had to document this "FIRST" as I had so many of the other milestones in her life. Then something my best friend told me popped into my head. She told me that when she was younger, it was her family tradition for her mom to take her and her sister out to do school shopping. They made a big deal out of it all, and it was something that really made an impression as she told me of those sweet memories all these years later.
So, in the midst of Crayola crayons and Bic pencils, I decided I was going to start our own tradition. School supply shopping at Target followed by hot chocolate at Starbucks. I needed my little partner though, so I checked out with my tanks, garland, bandages, and miscellaneous supplies and ran home to get my girl!
