Today is Jeb’s first day of middle school. As in, no more elementary school. No more cozy, single-room, one-teacher, familiar comfort zone.

Jeb is on a new campus. Today he will navigate a locker combination. He will follow a class schedule that has him moving between classrooms with enough textbooks to merit a backpack on wheels.

In an hour I will usher my growing boy on to a bigger school bus. He may ask me not to linger.

We are at a milestone into a new era.

But I’m not supposed to write about Jeb. At least that has become our agreement as he’s moved into the tender tween years. I respect that wholeheartedly.

So this morning, with the sun yet to rise, the roosters announce that light will breakthrough soon. I’m here with a mother’s emotions, only delicately able to let words carve the full etching of this parental terrain.

I lean on imagery and metaphors. Opt to let a photograph from the streets of Prague reflect today’s endeavor.

A doorway. Intricate and beautiful. Inviting in all that it promises. Closed for now, beckoning the discovery of all that awaits behind.