May 20

One week from now, Brady will have officially finished preschool. In my head, I know he's been there for three years and I know that he's ready for kindergarten. My heart, however... well, my heart is still getting used to the idea that after years of sticky fingers and stickier kisses, I'm about to retire my 'preschool mom' title. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Tonight, we attended our last preschool carnival, and while we were there, I got a bit of closure that I'd always kind of longed for, but never really expected to receive.

I was surprised when Brady's teacher came up to me after I'd dropped Abby at her youth group adventure and told me that a certain girl was at the carnival. This girl, Presley --the girl in the blue sweatshirt in this image-- was in Logan's preschool class, and she's a central figure in one of my favorite preschool stories of all time. See, way back before everything went so wrong and Logan was just a regular kid in preschool, he was sitting at circle with his class one day when Presley leaned over and kissed him right smack on the lips. Logan's teacher --who is Brady's teacher right now-- told me about the smooch with a mixture of horror and amusement when I picked him up that day, and I laughed it off.

After he passed away, it occurred to me that Presley was not only his first kiss, but his only kiss (aside from family, of course), so I've always wondered what became of her. And tonight, I got to see her, and I got to share the story with her mom. So much unexpected closure, and such perfect timing.

But that wasn't the only way that Logan was present tonight to say farewell to the preschool: his second teacher --the one who taught him the year that he passed on-- pulled me aside to say that he'd meant a lot to her. And as I left the parking lot to head to my dance class, I pulled behind a beautiful, brand new, cherry red Corvette. As Adam said, it's as if he was doing victory laps around the place. That very special place that will always mean a lot to me, even after my little ones are no longer little. So tonight, it was a blessing to look back and remember and be thankful before my family takes another big step forward together.