2012…a time of change? The end of the world? Upheaval? New consciousness? Age of Aquarius? Call it what you want, but no one can hide from the shift that is happening on the planet right now. It is the most exquisite time to be alive. Is it the end of the world? No, but it is the end of a world age – a 5,125 year cycle of time. According to Gregg Braden in the amazingly informative book Fractal Time, “every 5,125 years, the earth and our solar system reach a place in their journey through the heavens that marks the end of precisely such a cycle. With that end, the new world age begins. Apparently it has always been that way…Only five generations in the last 26,000 years have experienced the shift of world ages. We will be the sixth.” That fact is mind-blowing to me. We are living on the earth at a time no other human has seen since 3114 B.C.
Incomprehensible facts aside, I feel it. I feel the imminent change. And for me, that change has a name: Kindergarten.
Something ignited my consciousness a few weeks back. I am sure it was Kindergarten Orientation. How real it all seems now. When my son was two, I saw preschool as a much needed break for me for a few hours a week. At three, there were more days of preschool and at four, an even greater opportunity for him to soak up the amazing curriculum at Landmark Preschool. As this school year rolled on, I was so happy to hear him read, speak Spanish and occasionally speak Mandarin. But now with August 27th looming on the not so distant calendar as his first day of Kindergarten, I have a creeping sense of dread. I figure this is about the time a mom starts thinking of having another baby. Fill that hole! Well that’s not happening in this story so I must have a plan b. My plan b is still forming, but for now, I just want to spend as much time as I can with my baby. For so long I have been trying to fill our days with activities to keep his high-octane energy level satisfied and now, I feel the need to slow things down and retreat.
Yesterday I saw a glimpse of the perfection I so desperately seek, in of all things, legos. It was one of those moments that would have passed by unnoticed had I not been paying attention: my son and I, side-by-side, spending time together with no distractions. I had the wherewithal to recognize the moment, smile and give him a kiss. I was so glad I did because thirty seconds later we were both ankle deep in frustration because “Jay’s Jet” wasn’t opening when we pressed the button. I did say this was a glimpse of perfection. Then it was gone.
I am so glad I have realized these moments are all we have so I better enjoy them now. I will wake up on August 27th and put my son on the bus for his first day of school. He already fights me when I reach for his hand in a parking lot, how will it be in the fall? How soon will I hear “drop me at the corner mom”? December 21st, you’ve got nothin’ on a mom on the first day of Kindergarten. End of the world? No, but certainly great upheaval. What would a Mayan Mama do?
