Mini-me started first grade today. Mini-me looks like me and has so many of my mannerisms…some not so positive. But today, I am thankful that she is my mini-me. My mini-me has been anxious for school to start since…the last day of kindergarten. While she had a glorious summer, every day was another day towards today.

Many of you will say, and have said, “She’ll grow out of that someday.” I never did. I was just like Lexi. I was so excited about the first day of every school, from first grade to post-graduate degree, that I would get physically sick from the sheer anticipation. I wouldn’t sleep the night before and would get dressed at 5:30 in the morning. One year, my older sister walked me around the block a few times just to take the edge off my anxiety.

Watching Lexi this past week wore me out. She found some multiplication flash cards from my tutoring days and wanted me to help her with those. I tried to explain that she was a couple of years away from needing to learn multiplication, but she was very persistent. Yesterday was my birthday, but I was okay with it being over-shadowed by Lexi’s joy in it being the eve of school. The day couldn’t go by fast enough. This morning, I didn’t have to remind her to do anything. Her clothes and shoes were on well before it was time. I think she would have sprinted to school if we had let her.

She gave a little smile when she found out that her first kindergarten crush was also in her first grade class. I barely got a kiss in because before I left. Lexi had already sat down and begun working on the assignment on her desk. I thought about telling her to pace herself and wait until her teacher mentioned it, but it was a beautiful moment of joy, and I didn’t want to take it away from her.

Now that she is back in school, I’ll probably be even more reflective about the lessons I learned this summer home with my husband and daughter. But my heart is too full and I cannot even think about myself. This day belongs to Lexi.