First day on her own …

Since Mary, my daughter, went to her first kindergarten many years ago in Beijing, it has been either me, her mom, or her grandparents who would take her hand in hand to school.

Time flies and space shifts. From Beijing to Perth, Perth to Hong Kong, Hong Kong back to Perth, and Perth to Melbourne, Mary has been to a number of schools. One thing that remains unchanged is that every time she goes to school or finishes school, someone would be her company.

However, today, I witnessed her first day to school ON HER OWN.

After breakfast this morning, we both packed up our bags. Mary was going to school, and I was going to work. I said I would want to accompany (escort) her to school, but she said it would be alright for her to go on her own. I said I was willing to see her off to school, but she insisted that I stop at the Bus Stop where I usually take my bus and go to work.

I stopped. Mary and I said ‘Have a good day’ to each other, and I stood there, witnessing my dearest daughter to be able to go to school all by herself.

I knew she could have done this at a much earlier time, but as a parent, I simply wasn’t ready for this. Just a day before, when it was the first time Mary went to this ‘new’ Glen Waverley Secondary College, because Mary was only here in Melbourne for a week, I was still escorting her all the way from home to the General Office of her school. She said to me, on our way to school, that she was ‘hyperventilating’. I learned this very ‘new’ word from her. In fact, I have been learning many English words from her, as she is a little ‘native speaker’ (well, no longer ‘little’ any more) at home.

I knew how it felt for her when she said she was ‘hyperventilating’, because I also felt exactly the same. It has also been my first week to be teaching in one of the most prestigious universities in this country.

While I was seeing my daughter walk on her own to school, I seemed to be reflecting on myself too. I could feel how reluctant and proud my parents were when I was first ON MY OWN, and I could feel how much it meant to me to be growing together with my dearest daughter.

It was her first day on her own. It was also a day when I felt that I had grown a bit more mature in many aspects in life …