Letting go

Usually Fred drops Rion off at school and I pick him up, but today I had the morning off from work so I dropped him off. Fred has been telling me for weeks how hard it is to drop him off. "They just want us to drop him off at the playground and let him play until the bell rings," he told me. "I'm just not sure about that." Oh, he's fine I told him. Then the other day Fred was going to walk him to the playground, but Rion told him, "I know where to go," and was off. "See," I told Fred, "he's fine." This morning we arrived at school and I got out of the car to give Rion a hug before he ran off. I told him to have a good day and he bolted for the playground. Halfway there, he turned, smiled big and gave me one last wave. I waved back and my heart melted. Every time I thought about that moment today I got a big smile on my face. My little boy has gotten so big.