BY LAURA VAN MAREN, ACS PARENT

It was the first day of school in a brand new place.

We all had a wonderful relaxing summer, while trying to prepare the kids for a new school. We talked about the new school, met a family from the school, and toured the school. The older kids had even spent a day earlier in the year attending Abbotsford Christian School.

We bought the new clothes and shoes needed every September, spent time looking for the perfect backpack and school supplies. We looked over class lists learning the names of the kids in the classes.

We were READY!

My kids all had their various worries and fears…Would we like our new teachers? What if we don’t know our way around school? Will we fit in with and make friends with the kids who already attend?

Making the Plan

The morning of the first day of school arrived.

The plan was the kids would be taking the bus to and from school. A big concern was that if they weren’t there that morning for the bus, how would they know which bus to take home? We came up with a plan: I would take the two elementary kids to school, and the two in middle school would take the bus. Off the two older ones nervously went. I was pretty confident they would be okay!

Then my littles and I got in the car and headed to school. We chatted along the way that they would have a GREAT day. They would make new friends, their teachers would be so nice. I told them to be brave and I would meet them in the afternoon when they got off the bus. After we found parking (which probably didn’t start the day off perfectly), I walked the kids into the school.

Just Not the Same

Be brave, be strong, you will be fine…I kept telling them.

What I wasn’t prepared for was how my heart would feel when it was time to leave and they looked at me with those wide, scared eyes. We had always been in schools where everyone knows everyone. The kids went to school with kids they were already friends with. Teachers were familiar because chances were they had already taught the parents. It wasn’t hard to leave them at those schools because I knew it was “safe.”

But today I was leaving them in a strange place, with no one familiar.

Not Part of the Plan

With a lump in my throat, I hugged them good-bye and told them they would be fine. Then I walked away quickly before they could see my eyes fill with tears.

I hurried out of school, head down, trying to get to my car unnoticed, but a mom stopped me.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

I kinda laughed a little in embarrassment, “yes, just hard to leave my kids…”

Her reply was, “can I pray with you?”  And then I knew.

Everyone was going to be just fine.