second grade eve

Today is the last day of Alex's summer.  Kids in most of the rest of the state have already returned to school; however, for reasons that I won't go into here (except to say that Alex has always excelled in school, so it doesn't have anything to do with that), Marcus and I made the decision to enroll her in a different school this year.  Her new school has an excellent reputation, is much smaller, and goes all the way to 12th grade; therefore, on paper, this decision was really a no-brainer.

So naturally, I'm really nervous.

It doesn't make any sense, of course:  Alex is a kind, gentle and social kid, and gets along with everyone.  Also, since this school requires all new students to have 2 weeks of summer school to get them acclimated, she's already familiar with her class, her wonderful teachers and the other new students.  The school has a great student-teacher ratio, and has extra-curricular activities that I know Alex is excited about.  But I'm a worrier, and always have been.  I mean, what if she misses her friends at her old school too much?  What if aliens come to Earth and inhabit her teachers' bodies, turning them from wonderfully compassionate educators to rampant ogres?  What if we've made a huge mistake?

To be honest, I'm a little worried for her classmates too:

I know, I know.  She'll be fine.

Images: Portraits of Alex photographed with my Nikon D300 and ancient 50mm Nikon lens.  aperture 1.4, shutter speed 1/125, ISO 400

Song: Rockstar by Nickleback.  Alex has been singing the hook of this song on repeat. She tells me her father let her listen to it while I was out of town this summer. 

That'll teach me to leave those two alone.