Surviving the Drop Off

"Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.”  

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King 

So, I almost managed it, until Maeve told me she was a little sad that I was dropping her off, and then I cried a whole lot.  And she gave me a big hug when I got her out of the car, to comfort me, and that really just made it worse.  And then she cried and clung to me, and I had to physically push her away from me, as we were both sobbing.  So... that was not fun. 

And then I had to attempt to get myself together during my drive to work, after I let myself have a good cry first, so someone thought I'd had an allergic reaction when I walked into work all blotchy and red and puffy.  Thank goodness we were so busy at work, I didn't have much time to worry.

When we picked her up, that was an awesome hug.  She held me so tightly, I knew she had missed me.  She had lots of stories about what she did that afternoon, how she played some game called Monsters in the Night and made two friends, and the staff said she did fine.  I held her tightly and told her how proud I was of her, how brave and awesome she had been, and I could tell she was proud of herself, too.

Did I feel proud of myself?  I don't know, I was too exhausted to tell.  I was asleep before 9 because of all the crying, and because I'd slept badly the night before.  But total exhaustion is par for the course when you go through that much emotion in one day, I think. 

And we're still pretty snuggly.