+/- 3 Hours

Last year, on the first day of school, Dec consoled the boy that no one could console. He shared a puzzle. He led the sobbing boy to the snack table and sat with him. And soon enough, they were friends. The sad boy was no longer sad. Instead, we referred to him as one of Dec's dear friends.

Admittedly, Dame and I went over the top this year with conversations about how we hoped Dec would reach out to other children and help anyone else who is sad during their first few days of school. Make sure you're on the lookout for someone who needs a friend, we said.

As it turned out, the stories that we pulled from his 4-year-old mouth indicated that all was well at school this year. Everyone was getting on just fine. Good.

But (thanks in large part to the Dad/Mom factor), crying kids on the first day of school was at the forefront of Dec's mind. Radar? On.

On this, his 5th morning of school, we were zipping along down the road for drop-off when his little voice chirped up from behind me...

"Mommy?"

"Yeah, buddy..."

"Did anyone cry on your first day of college?"

(Pause)

Then stinging in my eyes.

Hmmmm. Wasn't prepared for that one.

Still, no words. (Poor kid probably thought I was ignoring him).

If I hadn't been fighting back tears, I would have told him all about the time Granny Annie dropped me off for my first day of BC, only to return 72 hours later to console me.

And I would have told him about the card (that I still have) that Granny wrote to me during my 2nd week of school insisting that she could be with me in +/- 3 hours. If needed.

And I certainly would have told him about all the additional times I put Granny's +/-3 hour challenge to the test over the course of 4 years.

Instead, in a whispered voice I said, "Yes buddy. I cried on the first day of college".

Shock filled his simple, "why?"

"I missed my mommy."

And with that, we were in the parking lot of school.

In +/- 3 minutes, Dec squeezed my hand as we walked through the parking lot, and gave me a lingering hug by his cubbyhole.

And so this morning, on his 5th day of pre-school, Dec consoled me. Once again I was humbled by my little guy who is so so good.

He was on the lookout for someone who needed a friend today. And that someone was me.