It wasn’t until Ian actually hit this big milestone of starting elementary school this year that I realized what a big deal it is emotionally. I mean, to realize that your firstborn is starting a whole new stage of their life and that they are no longer your baby going to daycare or preschool. Wow. This is definitely real and different and, well, it just seems significant.

So, of course you as a parent you can’t help but think, “Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was holding him in my arms as a newborn and now he’s getting on the bus by himself?”

Yes, I believe it was.

Ian Glenn Burpo, January 10, 2006, Arlington, Virginia