52 Week Project - Week 35

*Just as a reminder, this is a personal project I am undertaking this year, in order to shoot more and share more. Each week of 2011 will have a corresponding favorite photograph; snapshots from my life.


It was the first day of school, at a new school.

The day did not start off all smiles. It was traumatic, to say the least. I was one parent, taking two, very anxious kids to a new school and I could only be in one place at a time. There were tears, many tears...and then I left the school with my little Asia and sat in the minivan and I cried.  I had had to leave both my children in tears and felt like they would feel abandoned and as though I had not been there for them. Their fear-filled, tear drenched faces will be etched in my memory for ever, as their arms reached out for me. I felt like a horrible mother, a failure!


Our role as parents though, is to encourage our children in new things. To allow them to spread their wings, in safe places, to give them the freedom they can handle, knowing that they will always have a place of love and security to return to. As they grow and learn, their world expands, their little minds will never be the same.


By the end of their first day they were all smiles, with stories of new friends made and wonderful teachers. There were rough days that followed, it was not over in one day, but we all knew that it would be okay.