THE VERY LAST DAY OF PUBLIC SCHOOL

I tried to find the photo I took on Jena's first day of public preschool, back when she was not quite three (yes, she started early, that is a whole other story which will need to be recorded.)  I can see the spot in her scrapbook where the picture was suppose to go, but apparently, some time ago I decided I needed the picture for something and it is now in my boxes of photos and stuff that needs to organized and cleaned up.

But here she is years later, finishing her last day, riding on the yellow school bus one last day.  She has grown up as quite a young lady--she has done and continues to do things that we could have only dreamed about back then---if we even knew that those dreams of being in plays, serving a mission, or going to college were possible.  I just knew that I needed to do the best I could to prepare her for adult life in the "real world", the same goal I had for my other kids.

One of my goals (silly as it seems) was that Jena was not going to ride "the special education bus" when possible.  I didn't want something like that separating her from her peers.  That is one of the reasons we built a home a couple of blocks from an elementary school back in 1998, so that Jena could walk to school.  In high school, she rode the neighborhood bus to and from school.  It was only in junior high (coming home from school) and in post-secondary school which was in Farmington that she rode "the special education bus."  And she loved riding the bus for the most part.  The bus drivers were kind and the aides loved her because she never caused trouble.  A couple of years, she had a good friend on the bus, which made the trips much more fun.

We are grateful for everyone that as contributed to her education up to this point.  We have had some of the best of the best along the way. Thank you, one and all!

And in the fall, one, maybe two, of my grandchildren will be in public school preschools--such is the circle of life!!!