Check that shit out ... that's the backpack that Midge is going to start carrying to 1st grade next week.

Next week.

Next week my kid starts the first grade. How the hell did that happen?

Last night we went to Target to buy all the "because the school says so" required supplies and all the "because mama says so" not actually required, but definitely useful supplies: Crayons (pronounced "cran" not "crown" like some misinformed people around here like to say), markers, paints, paper, notebooks, glue (two bottles — as Bill says, "One for gluing and one for eatin'."), colored pencils, the aforementioned Hello Kitty backpack complete with giant pink rhinestone adorning Miss Kitty's ear bow, lunch box (they aren't boxes anymore, but insulated bags) and a soup carrier ... or thermos to those who aren't 6 and obsessed with the idea of carrying soup to school — now really what kind of kid obsesses about carrying soup to school? I was convinced that all soup was toxic sludge until I was about 20 years old.

So she's got all the necessary (and unnecessary) crap to start school. And more importantly, the purchase of these supplies has cranked up her enthusiasm for school exponentially.

But Monday is still going to suck. She's going to get scared and shy and I'm going to cry, hopefully not until after we drop her off.

I'm equal parts excited and terrified of these landmark days. Growth and change are inevitable but it doesn't mean that it's easy.