Late start today. And no, I didn’t oversleep.

This morning I was a tour guide at a PS 321 tour for prospective parents. It’s always an interesting thing to do.

Initially there were about 30 parents on my tour and they were most eager to see the pre-school and the kindergarten. A smaller group stuck it out as I took them to see the first through fifth grade.

The school is a pretty easy sell. As one person on the tour said, “The school really speaks for itself.” As a parent there for 11 years, I know the school very well. I have to admit I feel very sentimental that this is our last year at the school.

I’ve seen more than one fifth grade parent break down and cry at the thought that their child is about to graduate.

Indeed, OSFO is off to middle school and I will lose my connection to this wonderful school community. I feel sad but I haven’t cried yet. I cried a lot when Teen Spirit was in fifth grade.

I enjoyed showing my tour classroom of a teacher who has been teaching 3rd grade at PS 321 for 40 years. Teen Spirit had this teacher and she’s a pretty tough cookie; very old school. But as I told the group, “Your kid will know the multiplication tables cold with her. She really knows how to teach.”

It was fun to revisit the first grade. The kids looked so tiny sitting at their tables. The prospective parents didn’t seem that interested in the older grades. From the vantage point of pre-school, it’s hard to imagine that your kid will ever be THAT BIG. It’s scary, I guess.