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Yeah! Ben!!

On Ben’s first day of kindergarten, I wrote him a letter. In the letter, I told him about all the many things that I wished for him as he started his new life at school. I wanted him to learn and grow and try new things. I wanted him to love school and be respectful and be accepted. I told him to have fun, be brave and explore. Ben has never read my letter, but I might show it to him someday, when he’s a little older.

Most parents will admit that they have worries as they send their child off to kindergarten for the first time. With Ben, I wasn’t worried about him being kind or respectful. He already is those things. And I wasn’t worried about academics either. Ben loves to learn, and any struggles that he might have, we can work through together. 

Instead, my biggest worry was whether Ben would be accepted by his peers, whether he would make friends. Every mom wants her child to have friends. And Ben doesn’t need a lot of friends. He doesn’t need to be popular, or sought-after, or the kid that everyone wants to sit with at snack-time. Popularity is overrated (says the girl who was not popular), and doesn’t necessarily bring happiness. Popularity can also be very fickle and fleeting. So, my hope was that Ben would make one or two good friends. A buddy to sit with at snack-time, a friend to find on the playground, someone to greet him on the bus.

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Today, Ben was greeted by a whole bus full of children.

Benjamin goes to afternoon kindergarten, so he rides a bus with only other kindergarten children. As the doors opened for Ben this afternoon, I heard the most beautiful sound. It was a chorus of little voices chanting, “Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben” as my oldest ran for the bus. Then, as he climbed the stairs and popped his tow-head into the aisle, those sweet voices shouted, “Yeah! Ben!!”

Yeah, indeed!!

The doors closed and off Benjamin went to school, but not before his bus-driver flashed me a big smile as she drove by. Did she know? Could she see how special that moment was to me?

Maybe the other kids will be calling Ben’s name again tomorrow as he runs for the bus. Maybe they won’t. Today, they did. And it felt great.

For both of us.

xo Naomi 

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