Summer Laureates

So, for three weeks in July Rachel will be attending Summer Laureates, a camp run by Arlington's Gifted and Talented program. She had to get a teacher's recommendation to get in, which Mrs. Kappert was happy to write for us, and she was so excited to do more learning this summer.

When Drew picked her up that first night, Monday, Rachel waved him inside the building (Arlington Traditional School, a grammar school) and excitedly pointed to the slides she was looking at UNDER A MICROSCOPE. Drew told me that night that he never got near a microscope until he was in, like, 3rd grade. I remember my first time was 6th grade. Anyway...she loves, loves, LOVES camp and has invited at least one of her new little camp friends to her birthday party on Saturday (we are up to 11 kids, heaven help us).

She takes the bus to camp; the bus picks her up from McKinley, so I get to walk her in every morning. The first time I put her on the bus (the big orangey school bus we all remember from elementary school and camp), and I walked down the street toward home and as the bus pulled away I waved to her as she passed me, I had a flashback to Mom, years ago, putting me on the bus to Y day camp, and her waving goodbye to me, kerchief around her hair and in a light coat. The memory of that was so powerful it almost brought tears to my eyes because, yes, history is repeating itself, and someday I'll be waving goodbye to my little girl, and she'll be all grown-up, and I won't have a little one anymore to send off to camp every morning. Now, Mom, I know what you went through.