Last Big Hurrah with Wonder Woman

Sam started kindergarten with a little anxiety and some picture taking, and the first two weeks were thrown off by half days and unexpected school closings due to heat indices over 100 degrees.  So rather than one last big hurrah at Jamie's Play Palace, Sam was slowly weaned from the daily routine by first giving up half days and then going back for two school holidays and finally converting to full days at St. Mary's during his second week of school.  It was the end of an era and I felt perhaps I was the only one who was sad about the fact that he won't be getting out of the car every morning to run onto the porch to show the big boys his latest Yo-Gi-Oh cards before turning to me arms open and chin up and saying "Huggie and a kiss."  He will no longer be running up the chalk covered sidewalk to greet me in the afternoons, smeared with sweat and dirt and red sauce from his lunch, not sure where his shoes are but very excited to show me his latest trick on the scooter or the skateboard or the 16" bike.  No more winter afternoons standing talking and shivering with Jamie while Sam climbs and then sleds down the giant snow pile left by the used car lot plows.

So when Jamie texted me on Thursday to ask if Sam could come to her place for a celebratory end-of-summer party on Friday, I said yes immediately and informed St. Mary's that he wouldn't be in their aftercare program that he had started the week before.  Sam was going back to Jamie's for one last hurrah with Max and Owen and Ayanna, one last afternoon of learning through play and making messes and joy and fun.  And when I arrived at the end of a hot afternoon to pick the kids up, Eva stomped up to me in her soaked purple tank top and announced that her clothes were wet before showing me how she could put her enter face into the sprinkler spray.  Sam barely noticed I was there and Ayanna gave orders and Max and Owen and Sam did as they were told, marching through the water and racing back up the sidewalk for more instructions while Jamie and I wringed out wet clothes and gathered shoes and loose yo-gi-oh cards and wondered where the summer (and the years) had gone.  When she handed me the framed collage of photos she had collected since Sam was 12 weeks old, I smiled and teared up and once again knew that Sammy had spent his formative years with Wonder Woman.