End of school, part 2: Moving up day

With a few more half-days to go, our youngest son James is almost done with fifth grade. On to middle school in September for the little guy. And so ends a 13-year streak of having at least one child in the elementary school near our house. The journey started in 2004 with our oldest son Joey, continued with our daughter Natalie, and now it ends with James. Today was the “Moving Up Ceremony” at the elementary school. This rather curious activity “celebrates” the kids “graduating” from elementary school. They played “Pomp and Circumstance.” There were programs. There were awards. There was a class song. Parents cried and frantically snapped photos. Yawn.

Hey. Listen. We are proud of all our kids’ accomplishments, but moving from one school to another is not so much an “accomplishment” as a transitional moment, one that will impact our kid far more at the end of the summer than at the beginning of the summer. Was it bittersweet, the end of our elementary school days for our kids, we were asked. Heidi is a bit more of an emotional sort than I am, but in this case we were equal parties in neutrality. The ceremony started at 10 a.m.; somehow, in a miraculous oversight, I had had only one cup of coffee at that point. My yawns were for real. Anyway … Quick! What year did you “graduate” from the fifth grade? Yeah. I thought so. I didn’t remember, either, and not because I’m old. It’s because it doesn’t much matter. We’ll “celebrate” in a few weeks with a family outing at Citi Field to watch the now dreadful Mets. If “Pomp and Circumstance” didn’t make us cry, maybe Lucas Duda striking out a few times will. So long, elementary school. Time for a different bus route, different bus time and different bus destination. Check back with me in seven years, when we are done with school days for good. Maybe there’ll be tears then … but more than likely, there will be cause for great celebration. Especially if I’ve had my proper fill of coffee in the morning.