My First Day at Kindergarten

A four-year-old girl walked with her dad down the street. Their neighborhood was quite peaceful during mornings and allowed the residents to enjoy the morning walks. Though, this particular sunny morning walk, had a different purpose.

Finally, little Sam was old enough to go to school; or, to be more accurate, to go to the church’s kindergarten. She woke her parents early and made sure that her mommy dressed her in her favorite outfit. Her mommy packed her first lunch in a lunch box to eat when the teacher told her to. Sam was so excited and couldn’t help but imagine her first day of school. Their house wasn’t far from the church establishment. It was just a seven-minute walk. When the church was clearly seen from the other side of the street, her father stopped his pace abruptly interrupting Sam’s wild daydream. “Why did we stop?” Asked Sam looking up to her father.

“Tell me Sam… what’s your name?” Her dad smiled at his tiny girl; a mischievous light sparkling in his blue eyes.

“My name is Sam.” She answered sure of herself, but her dad just shook his head in denial “No, your name is Samantha Lorena Pérez Ruiz.” And just with that, he resumed his pace again urging her to follow. “You need to remember your complete name, because your teacher is going to call you and if you don’t answer, she is not going to know that you are there...”

Sam immediately grew worried by this revelation. “It’s a very long name; how am I going to remember it?” She thought and her first instinct was to repeat the name in her head over and over again until the teacher called her. They reached a small three story building; right besides, the neighborhood’s church. Several nuns were waiting outside for the children to arrive. Sam’s father kissed her goodbye and let one of the nuns take her to her designated classroom.

Sam forgot her earlier mission when she saw that a lot of children were already there. The classroom was spacious and had the teacher’s desk at the front and several round tables with small chairs. Papers and crayons were everywhere.

“Hello, children.” An old nun, addressed the children, from the classroom doors. She was accompanied by a younger nun “My name is Sister Sara and this is Sister Maria. We will be your teachers during this year.”

“Please have a seat.” Sister Maria, the young nun, took a notepad from the teacher’s desk. “Children, remember to raise your hand and say ‘present’ aloud.” And so, thus the agony began.

Sam almost had a panic attack when she couldn’t recall her name. Fortunately, she didn’t have to wait long to hear the name that her father told her just a few minutes ago. Relief flooded inside her when her hand rose and the word “present” left her lips. She felt very proud of herself; and why wouldn’t she, she did remember her long name after all.