Today marks the first day of preschool for our two-year-old! She went to a drop-in nursery before the pandemic, but I wonder if she remembers any of it. Isn’t it strange to realize that things that used to be so much a part of our daily routine aren’t anymore?
It’s these realizations that make us stop for just a moment and take a deep breath. Perhaps it’s a breath of gratitude that there is a new start. Perhaps it’s a breath of grief that a stage is over and that nothing we can do makes life stop moving and changing and transforming. Perhaps it’s a breath of hope that we are really adaptable and able to learn new things.
There’s a reason that we stop and take the first day of school pictures or holiday pictures. There’s something within that wants to capture these new starts because we know they mark something significant, something meaningful. We know that we will look back and remember all we have been through and all that we didn’t know yet.
New starts. Deep breaths. Life is changing. We are changing.