A Hundred Moves

“I’m going to have to do that at least thirty-seven more times.” I said to Anai, our au pair and dear friend, as we hurried back home to pick William up from his first day of kindergarten. 

“And that’s if nobody else goes to boarding school. If they all go to boarding school, then it’s sixty-nine.”

I was adding up how many dorm moves loomed ahead if all my children attended college.  This is why moms should never project.  Assessing the number of diaper changes, hours of lost sleep, whiny calls for “Mommmm” from across the house, can just be depressing.

It was only eleven in the morning and had already been a crazy day.  At eight we took William’s picture on the porch and walked him to his first day of kindergarten.  Anai was to meet us outside the school with the van full of dorm stuff, so we could drive Caitlin to her school, half an hour from our home, and move her in.  Kindergarten was only three hours long, so we didn’t have much wiggle room.  

Caitlin and I watched William tentatively walk up the steps holding his teacher’s hand and then we sprinted out to meet the awaiting car.   But it wasn’t awaiting.  Anai had gone to fill up the empty gas tank.  Valuable minutes ticked by.

We got to school only to find registration was between 11 and 1. The problem was, I needed to be done the whole process by 11.  Without a key, we were in trouble.

We drove to her dorm – which looked empty.  Caitlin got out of the car and disappeared around the building, checking for open doors.  Meanwhile I waited and tried to conjure up a plan that didn’t involve a drive home with a stuffed van. 

Then the door swung open and a pair of students walked out, one with a bag of trash in her arms.  I jumped out of the car and approached them. 

“Hi, my daughter is going to live in Paul Revere this year, but we can’t register and get a key until 11, but I need to get back home by 11:30 to pick up my son from kindergarten.”  As these words tumbled out of my mouth, I wondered if I appeared as crazy and intense as I felt. 

The girl said calmly as she dropped her bag in the dumpster, “I can let you in, just don’t tell anyone.”  The boy looked slightly amused, but didn’t say a word.  I wanted to give them bear hugs, but restrained myself from further embarrassment. 

We began hauling the stuff.  I had forgotten until that moment she had a fourth floor room.  On my first trip up, my legs started burning and I was sweating.  Since I’ve been known to sweat when others aren’t hot, I checked in and found it wasn’t just me. 

Since Caitlin’s a girl, before we started unpacking, we had to move the furniture around a lot.  When everything was just so, we began hanging clothes in the closet, making her bed and putting her computer together. 

I scouted around for a restroom and found one nearby…next to the elevator.

After some big embraces and kisses, we raced back home.  Anai and I laughed about the elevator discovery and I counted the moves in my future.  We arrived just in time to find William in the courtyard with his class.  When he spotted us, he grinned from ear to ear and jumped up and down, showing me a bag of presents his teacher had just handed him.  He also had a badge he had colored and written his name on with cute all-cap letters.  It said, “I survived my first day of kindergarten!” He was so excited to see us and thrilled about his day.

It was then I realized, the moves, even if there are a hundred more of them, the first days, the moments with these precious kids… they all add up to something good.