This morning, I did what another few million parents have done this time of the year every year here in America: I registered T into the public school system.

Oh, wow, we’re here already?! Yes, yes we are, and I think I’ve asked myself that very question from the minute we put in our preliminary applications last January all the way up until this morning when I turned in our completed packet of paperwork (including the copy of the birth certificate and the utility bill) to our designated school of choice. I also believe I am going to continue to ask myself this question for years to come on a regular basis as well, whether it’s regarding school or any other huge milestone event really.

It’s true when everyone tells you that time flies, and it’s especially true once you become a parent. I don’t know if it’s because us parents just don’t have the time we once had to sit around, ponder, and pontificate on the past for all the glory (and grit) that it is, or if we’re just living in and for the moment much more now with kids in tow because, well, if you don’t, life does a fly by. Or, as Ferris Bueller famously put it, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

T will wrap up at his current preschool at the end of June, and he begins what the State of California has termed “Transitional Kindergarten” this September. T-K is neither preschool nor is it officially Kindergarten, and it was developed to serve as a bridge-grade for those children with fall birthdays (from Sept. 1 to Dec. 2). Our state has (finally) changed the cut-off date for Kindergarten from December to September, but the new date is being moved up in monthly increments for the next few years to accommodate the change in smaller steps and enrollment groups rather than flood the system all at once with making the switch. I guess you could say we’re all in transition, be it the students, parents, or the schools themselves!

T will be at a school that is new to the T-K grade level, as additional schools take on the grade level each year as more children become eligible for it, so not too many details are known nor firm at this time (this will be just the third year of T-K in our district). All we know is he needs to be ready for and at his new school starting on Wednesday September 5. I have that start date drilled into my head already because I guess now if a child fails to show up on the first day of school the school has the right to give away the spot (in public school… yeah, I know, huh?!). T’s start time has yet to be determined, but that’s fairly common even for Kindergarten; I guess some schools didn’t tell parents their children’s schedules until just a few days before school last year (!).

So congratulations, T! While I am very excited about the changes upcoming, I also admit I am also nervous, thrilled, anxious, happy, sad, and proud. Yep, sounds like the feelings of a mother alright!

And that, RMT’ers, is my homage to all things commencement-related. Commencement after all is about out with the old and in with the new (beginnings), so if it’s that time of year for you as well, then congratulations to you, too, and continued good fortune along your own life journey!