Last week was Miss C’s last week of first grade. Don’t even get me started on that and the fact she turns 7 in June. There will be tears.
School adjourned on a half day and I planned to leave work early so I could pick her up and I brought along my dad and Gigi the French Bulldog puppy. I figured that would be a fabulous way to end the school year and we could just hang out and maybe go to the park. While she and her friends made over Gigi the puppy in the front schoolyard a friend invited her to the zoo for the afternoon and really who am I to turn down such an offer? Suddenly I found myself with the stretch of afternoon ahead of me solo. I called the hubby for a lunch date and told him that this is what it must feel like when you have a teenager and they up and make last-minute plans with their friends. Not that I’m complaining, but it’s just that first grade flew by and I’m a little scared that each school year will now fly by even faster and before you know it she’ll be graduating from college and renting her first apartment and OH MY GOODNESS MAH BABY!
On Friday Miss A went to daycare so that I could have a special mom and grandma outing with Miss C. We headed to the country up near the Kentucky border where I grew up to see the house my mom is building on our family farm. As we were driving through town I saw the auto repair shop that was built on the site of my high school McDonald’s, also known as mecca for every teenager within a 20-mile radius back in the 80s (we didn’t have a mall or iPods or the Internet back then either.) I almost pointed it out to Miss C, but stopped myself before I started sounding like a John Cougar Mellencamp song. Then we headed toward the country and down what used to be a dusty gravel road many years ago but has long been paved and is even marked with a road sign. As we drove by a neighboring farm and a small creek and clearing I almost pointed out to Miss C that me and her daddy used to go parking there and there was that one time the Jones boys fired up their pickup truck and started to chase us in a Dukes of Hazzard fashion, but we managed to beat them down the country road and retreat to the safety of my driveway and shut off my car lights before they even caught up to us. (No, I am not kidding.)
I decided to save all those embarrassing high school moments for a few years from now. There’s no sense rushing things because time seems to be doing a fantastic job of that in and of itself. I just enjoyed the special time with my girl.
If you’re ever in Cross Plains, Tennessee, in Robertson County near the Kentucky border north of Nashville you should stop by Thomas Drugs old-fashioned soda fountain. It’s like a little touch of Mayberry.
Feeling your pain! My twins turn 7 on June 10 & are also finishing up first grade. Time seems to be speeding along & it scares the devil out of me. As pleased & proud as I am to see them becoming increasingly confident, capable & independent ,a part of me( a gynormous part) is still asking “where did my babies go?”.
OMG, I have been there! Of course, that’s really not all that surprising since I can usually find hand-dipped ice cream shakes with the accuracy of a truffle pig…
Yes, by all means save the dating and parking stories until they are teens– their horrified shudders at the thought of their mom making out with someone are worth the wait.
Wish I had read this this morning! We stopped for gas at Cross Plains this afternoon on our way back from a Mennonite farm in Scottsville.
The soda fountain is actually closed on Saturdays but it’s a very easy drive from Nashville and also a nice pit stop on the way to Bowling Green.
Nice… i
That one-on-one time is so awesome, no?
AWWW, I just love places like that. LOVE the picture of you and Miss C.
I love a good old fashioned milkshake…nothing better! 🙂
~K
How special that you could share that experience with your daughter. As for the growing up….my oldest starts MIDDLE SCHOOL in the fall. I don’t know if I can take it!
Our little daughter just turned 4 in February and I can’t believe its almost summer already!
She’s already progressed so much since then. I treasure our special moments together. I’m savoring this time with her…
About that milkshake…as Vincent said in Pulp Fiction about that $5.00 milkshake: That’s a pretty good _ _ _ _ _ _ _shake!
Love those little mom and daughter moments…. getting to savor the “power of small” and talk girly stuff!
Lisa
I enjoyed this post. Great photos too. I am always having to stop myself boring the kids with tales of the old days (the 80s!) when I didn’t have an ipod or Internet to occupy my time. It is weird to think how different things are in only 20 years. I wonder what will change in the next 20 years. One thing is for sure, whatever year it is, time with Mum and Grandma is always time well spent.