Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water; whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished....
2 Peter 3:3-6
The end is near.
Really.
Today is my son's last day of nursery school.
On the way home from school yesterday, he broke down sobbing in my wife's car. His nursery school has been part of his life for five years (his three years there, and his sister's time before that) -- much longer than he can remember. He knows after today, he'll be going to a different school, with different teachers. And unfortunately, he's precocious enough to understand that grown-ups' promises of frequent, future visits are invariably bulls--t. There are some people at his school who he loves, who have been a regular part of his life since before he can remember, who my son likely will never see again after today. I know it. Worse, he knows it.
In moments like this, parents are supposed to have the magic words that make the pain go away. I have no such magic words. Goodbyes suck. And while I'm quick to reassure my son that he'll have wonderful new teachers at his new school, and that most of his friends will be there with him, I know that's only a partial comfort. I'm not going to pretend otherwise.
Like people in ancient times, my son is going through a period of profound uncertainty. Like them, his limited perspective affords him only the most rudimentary understanding of these events and their implications. And like them, he's looking to his "father" for answers.
I don't have any. Goodbyes suck.
Sorry, little man.
) It will make his next goodbyes less difficult to deal with.