"Ready or Not"

We dropped Juliet off at pre-school for the first time today.  Playschool, actually.  She was so excited.  When I got home from work, I asked Juliet what had happened at school.

"Mommy and daddy ran away," she said.

We didn't run away.  Juliet's teacher had told us at the parent meeting that we could only stay for fifteen minutes.  If you stay longer than fifteen minutes, your child will never be able to separate from you.  Ever.  So, we stayed for fifteen minutes. 

We played with a racetrack, a kitchen and a barn.  We played with each other.  We did not play with anyone else.  Juliet was well prepared for what was about to happen next.  We had told her a hundred times and read her books about it.  We had even suggested that when other kids cry, she should give them hugs.  On the way to school, she calmly explained to us that we would drop her off, that daddy would go to work, that mommy would get coffee, that she would hug the other kids who cried and that mommy would pick her up and take her home.

She was fine with it.  Excited about it.  Until is was about to happen.

Juliet didn't cry.  She answered yes when we asked if we could leave. Walking out the door, I told myself not to look back and did anyway.  I noticed Juliet about to look at me, and, well, I ran away.  Then, I think, she cried.  Or maybe she didn't.  Maybe she gave out hugs and words of encouragement.  I don't know.  I left Juliet at school, and I went to work.  And we were all so grown up.  Ready or not.