Today is Jettie’s first day of third grade.
Yesterday we went through the important final preparations: backpack charms, hand sanitizers, supplies, all the little decisions that apparently must be made before one can successfully enter third grade.
And then we got to BunBun.
BunBun has gone to school with Jettie every day since she started school. More than that, BunBun has held the position of #1 stuffy for essentially Jettie’s entire life. But yesterday, through a few tears, Jettie decided BunBun should stay home.
She said she was worried BunBun might get lost or damaged. And I’m sure that’s true. But Dada also knows his little lady is growing up.
We reassured her that BunBun would be perfectly safe at home. I told her BunBun could hang out with me in the office while she was at school. After a little while, Jettie accepted the arrangement, and we moved on to the next item on the checklist.
I walked into the back room and cried.
Not because BunBun has been forgotten. She hasn’t. There are still dolls and Squishies and slime and plenty of childhood around here. I cried because sometimes growing up happens in moments so small you almost miss them.
One day, BunBun goes to school. The next day, she stays home. And somehow the whole universe has changed a little.
In a couple of hours I’ll wake my little lady up, hype her up for third grade, and send her into another year of becoming whoever Jettie Jane is becoming. She’ll see her friends, her worries will disappear, and before long this morning will just be another first day of school.
But I want to remember it.
And someday, Jettie, if you find these little reflections I’ve left scattered around the internet, I hope you understand why I wrote so many of them. Dada was paying attention. I loved watching you become you—even when it hurt a little to watch the previous versions disappear.
And for the record, I still have my Grover from when I was a little boy. So don’t worry about BunBun.
She’s not going anywhere. She just got promoted to the home office.