Pieces of Life: his school shoes

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Our school-day morning routine has been essentially the same for the last three years; we park the car, cross the busy Chicago street kiddo’s school sits on, and walk inside down the hall to his locker.  He hangs up his coat and changes out of his outdoor shoes into his classroom shoes.  In the Montessori classroom, the younger children wear soft-soled shoes so that they are aware of their movement and what they are stepping on around them.  We have gone through many pairs of the same soft grey Toms, retiring them once they are too small and usually threadbare.  These little shoes symbolize to me his early school years.

Next year, when he moves up to first grade next year, this will change.  He will no longer change his shoes in the morning, and as much as I will still want to, I will probably not be walking him to his locker anymore.  Just a moment in time, that in a way has defined his age at school these last three years.

I realized how often we get so caught up in the busyness of our daily lives, we tend to forget that these current routines and daily activities will not always be so.  Although watching our children grow and change can sometimes be painfully bittersweet, I find so much comfort and happiness in capturing these bits and pieces of our life as it is today.  And our life today is a special morning walk to his locker and soft-soled grey Toms.

This photo essay is part of the Pieces of Life project on the CMpro Daily Project with this amazing group of women:

Felicia Chang | Alice Che | Megan Cieloha | Kristin Dokoza | Stacey Haslem | Karen Jacot | Caroline Jensen | Kristin Ingalls | Kirsty Larmour | Lauren Mitchell | Meredith Novario | Kara Orwig | Kristen Ryan | Jessica Thomason | Julia Tulley |Ginger Unzueta | Sarah Vaughn | Elle Walker | Sarah Wilkerson | Emma Wood