cutting the cord a little more

Emilia's school is just across the street from our apartment building, a 95 meters walk, according to Google maps. Yet she insists we walk her to school every morning. This morning, after a night of gastro for Camille and Nic and a night of holding Camille's puke bucket for me, I asked Emilia to walk to school alone as nobody in the household was in a shape presentable enough to meet the outside Parisian world. She agreed after I promised I would be looking out the window until I see her cross the street (that's the only part that we can see from our window).

5 minutes later I was still sticking my head through the window, I could hear the bell ringing in the school but I never saw her cross the street. The rational "me" kept insisting that I must have missed her in the demonstration size crowd of people that cross the street on the way to school every morning. The emotional, mama bear already saw her being kidnapped and driven away somewhere. The panic ensued.

Should I call the school? I did not want to sound ridiculous but I couldn't wait till 4:30 to see that my firstborn is still alive. Just then I remembered that this is the first day of the new trimester and now she has gym as the first class of the day on Mondays. The gymnasium is not actually a part of the school building but it is attached to OUR APARTMENT BUILDING! I put Camille in front of TV, put on some clothes and ran out. As I approached the glass door of the gym I could hear the gym teacher yelling and then... see my firstborn sitting on the floor with the rest of her classmates. She was alive!!! And nobody had to know about my ridiculous, overprotective mother fears!!! And just then I hear Madame Robillaud's - Emilia's room teacher - voice behind me: "Bonjour Madame!"

Busted!

I told Nic the story later that day when he got out of bed feeling better. "You let her go to school by herself??? she is only seven!!!! Seventeen maybe, but seven!!!!"

Emilia has been requesting to walk to school by herself ever since.

First day of school - feels like it was just yesterday!