I know we tend to say this every year, but I really mean it when I say I can’t believe summer is here. We’re halfway through June already and I feel like spring breezed by completely undetected. It’s just the way life goes these days. My 5-year-old graduated from pre-K earlier this month and I felt stuck in a cliché—just completely wondering where on earth the time went.
But rather than be filled with nostalgia and a bit of sadness (oh who am I kidding? … happiness) that the toddler and preschool years are over, I have to accept it. Plus, I can’t help but look forward to what lies ahead, especially considering she already comes home from school so happy and shouting about the things she learned that day. And she’s so inquisitive and eager to learn—always stopping me mid-sentence to give her the definition of a word I used if she hadn’t heard it before—that I just know she’s going to thrive when she steps on that school bus for the first time this fall.
As if I wasn’t excited enough for her, reading through the stories you’ll find in this month’s issue makes me even more anxious. I read Athletes of the Year and imagine how she might progress from being the one rolling in the grass on the sidelines to perhaps becoming the leading goal-scorer, not that I’m counting or anything. Then there’s Outstanding Teachers, which makes me look back at who made an impact on my life, but more than anything, I think about the experiences she’s going to have. Fortunately, after reading about the incredibly unique lessons taking place in classrooms across South Jersey—from applying engineering skills to build a mini-golf course to monitoring horseshoe crabs and environmental sustainability—I know she’s going to be in good hands.
By the time you read this, graduation season and (most) of the parties will be over. But whether your child graduated from elementary school, high school or college this month, I just want to say two things: Congratulations, and embrace the new beginning.
Warmly,
Colleen Patrice Clark
Executive Managing Editor
Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Family Magazine, Volume 4, Issue 4 (June, 2013).
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