It seems like yesterday...the day I first walked my son to kindergarten. I remember so very clearly how frightened he was. He looked so tiny among the other students. He clung to my arm and kept looking up at me for reassurance. I tried to be brave for him even though I felt like I'd burst out into tears at any minute. This was my dear little boy...off to school..his baby days were over.

Yesterday I was sitting in the car waiting for him...my son...after his SAT tests. He will be 18 years old next month. No, I didn't have to be there..he can drive, but I wanted to support him..much like I did on that first day of school so very long ago. As I waited for him I got all teary eyed. My mind was reviewing all the years that had passed. I saw him at age 5 in his little bumblebee tee shirt carrying a fistful of dandelions to me. I saw his face as he learned to ride his bike for the first time, lost his first tooth, rode in an ambulance sick with flu, climbed abandoned army tanks with glee, sang in his school plays, struggled to carry a book bag half the size as he was, opened his birthday presents, and told me how much he loved me a zillion times a day.


I waited for him nervously, scanning the students spilling from the doors of the school. I searched a mob of heads looking for a slight glint of his red hair, the awkward gallop he acquired when he walked quickly... a hint of a boy with a fistful of dandelions.


But that boy was gone.


Striding confidently towards the car was a handsome, tall young man. His hair, now a fair strawberry blond didn't fall limply into his eyes anymore. The braces were gone as were the over sized round Harry Potter-esque glasses he used to wear. A heavy book bag was slung over one shoulder with ease.


I wondered where the time had gone.


He didn't greet me with flowers or kisses anymore. I smiled at him and he kind of grunted, probably more embarrassed that I'd turned up there for him. He didn't need my hand or my hugs...he didn't really need me at all. I wasn't alone though. A whole slew of mothers and fathers had shown up for their kids. All the kids looked annoyed while the parents looked somewhat sad. Maybe one day they will all understand.


Maybe one day my son will bring me dandelions again....