Gemotions

The first day of kindergarten, I walked with my son, Ben, feeling a tightness in my chest that had nothing to do with the early morning chill. The school looked exactly as I remembered it. When we reached the classroom, there it was, the name on the door: Miss Evans.

I felt suddenly as if I couldn't breathe. My old teacher. The teacher who had calmed my fears, who had nurtured my love for reading. The door swung open and she emerged, her smile as bright as I recalled. I felt a profound sense of… something.

I knelt down, brushing a lock of hair from Ben’s forehead, unable to speak. I wanted him to be happy, to experience the same sense of safety and wonder that I had felt in her care. It felt right, a perfect symmetry.