Do you know this?

There are approximately 18000 parents registered with CARA, while the number of children in the Government's adoption pool is less 1800.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Off she went….

Last Thursday was my baby girls first day at school. Entire family was looking forward to this day for quite sometime. Excitement was palpable, and we were ready…..well…that’s what we thought.

On Wednesday, mom made sure that all of us went to bed early so that we all can get ready on time. Thursday came and everyone one was up well before their regular waking up time. By 8:00 AM, girls are ready and my baby looked very cute in her school uniform and a brand new school bag.

Thatha (grandpa) walked a kilometer (0.8 of a mile) to come see the “Star of the house” starts her schooling on the right note. Mom wanted daddy to take pictures and in the excitement we forgot to pray. We hurried Thatha to pray and then girls gave big kisses to Thatha before they said bye to him.

We four of us went to Lily’s class. All the kids looked cute and were clinging on to their parents. Lily was little different running around with excitement of starting a new class. Then Lydia had to say bye as it was her time to go to class. Soon came our time and that’s when it hit Lily that she is going to be all by herself and began to cry. Mommy carried her for a while and promised her with candies when she comes home. I didn’t want to be around Lily because I am a chicken and I might make her cry more so I stood outside. I came very close though….

When the class was over that day, we learnt that she was crying on and off with all the other kids but the next day she was all ready and decided that she is not to going to cry because she is a big girl now.

This set me on a crazy thinking. Just four years ago, I picked up my baby girl where she had no teeth but could smile a lot, always used to cling to us with her babble, but here she is grown up, very independent and going to school. I told my wife “honey, before we know it, they will grow up and live their own lives”.

After my older one (Lydia) came home, I remember a day in the US when I was driving to work and the radio station was playing “Butterfly kisses” track of Bob Carlisle. When he was singing the last stanza about how his baby girl had grown and ready to be walked down the aisle and the daughter saying to him “daddy don’t cry”, I was at the signal light and before I ducked to grab a tissue to wipe my cheeks, lady in the next line saw me and gave a gentle smile. May be she is listening to the same track and thinking “All daddies are chickens”.

Loving my girls more than ever.

Ruby

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

i love that song by bob carlisle!! so true they grow up soooo fast!!

Anonymous said...

Nice post Ruby! Well i'm also having goose bumps as tomorrow happens to be the first day at pre-school for my little one. Although i'm not the chicken-types, i'm wondering how the day would turn up.

Ruby said...

Sumantha, would love to read about how it goes with your little one. Take lots of pictures.

Anonymous said...

We had a different problem! Aaniya loved her first day at school and guess what she was not willing to come back from school. We literally had to drag her out of the school and she had been crying throughout back home. Never thought that we would have such tough time bringing her back to home, we had thought otherwise.

Ruby said...

How interesting is that!! I had never seen kids who wanted to stay at school. Enjoy the moment. Ruby