Thursday was Amelia’s last day of school. She had been excited for this day, and we tried to make it as special as we could for her. We let her do class in her pajamas, which I figure is great preparation for going to college someday. Her homework all done, all that was left was to log on to the final class and say her goodbyes.
It has obviously been a strange last few months, and I know it’s been super hard on teachers and students as well as on we parents. But the school was great and Amelia’s teacher did a great job making that last day fun and exciting for them. There was music, singalongs, and heartfelt goodbyes. Lots of smiles and waves and wishes of “have a great summer!”
We of course hope that the fall brings something of normalcy back for the kids the community. It’s hard to imagine any scenario where everything goes back to being as it was, but we are at least hopeful that there will be some kind of spaced or staggered return to in-person school.
But for now, Erin and I just remember the excitement and joy around our last days of school, and we wanted Amelia to feel that too, even in this strangely muted environment. So I picked up some snacks she likes, and we let her hang out and do her thing all day. We told her how proud we are of her for hanging through all of this and doing such a great job. And we are proud of her for all that.
Erin and I had super busy days chasing around, but thankfully Amelia and Henry were content doing their own thing. We let Amelia choose what she wanted for dinner, so unsurprisingly we ordered pizza. I’ve been trying to watch the carbs and stuff lately, but awfully hard to say no to pizza.
After the pizza, the kids wanted to play restaurant, so while Erin and I were trying to finish eating, we were regaled with a whole lot of play food. You can see here that I had tea, cake, an apple and carrot juice!
But the big moment was having ice cream for dessert. We would generally take Amelia out for ice cream on her last day of school, but since that’s not so much a thing right now, we had our own sundae bar at home, which the kids loved.
Amelia piled hers high with Oreos and gummy worms. Frankly sounds gross to me, but hey, to each their own.
A delicious capper to a big day for our little girl. We keep telling her she’s a second grader now, which makes her super proud and still blows my mind. It honestly feels like just yesterday that we were taking her to the first day of first grade. I still remember the crisp fall air, the feeling of excitement, and the fact that people were standing pretty close to each other without a care in the world.
We all miss those days. And I feel confident we’ll find our way back to that or something better. For now, I want to give a big shout out, first to everyone at Amelia’s school, and especially her teacher, for all they have done. And another shout out to all the kids who muddled through the most surreal 2 months of school ever. And yet another shout out to all the parents reading this who had to navigate and manage the process.
I know it’s a daily struggle. I know we are all making it up as we go along. But take a moment and recognize it’s not for nothing. We are protecting our little ones and our communities from an unprecedented threat, and we will emerge stronger. We already are stronger.
