Where Does the Time Go?

"Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives." (Cue the music)
I just got done talking to my friend Tom. His little girl and Charlie have been together in preschool since the beginning of time. I have watched his tiny, little girl, grow up into a feisty, vivacious, and opinionated little person. He has watched my little guy as he has broken each arm, and still somehow managed to survive. We are a close-knit family at our preschool. We love one another's kids, and we relish in the fact that everything has been the same, year after year.
Tom was talking about how he hates how "official" kindergarten sounds. Say it...KINDERGARTEN...doesn't it just send chills up your spine? Next year our little ones will fly from their cozy nests where they have been for so long together and find new nests, all over, away from all that is familiar. (...momentary pause due to hyperventilating) No longer will I be able to count on this family to watch after my boy when I can not. I will not be able to see the sweet and funny little changes in my friends' children as they grow day to day. They will see each other again, I'm sure, but the safe little cocoon will no longer be.
How does this happen? I just delivered Charlie yesterday. I remember as clear as day. (How could I forget, Tucker just about delivered him!!) He was the little boy we were sure would never be given my family's female-dominated gene pool. He just learned to walk, he just learned to go potty, he was just a baby a second ago. Now, all of a sudden, without my knowledge or permission, someone took my little boy and forced him to grow up, and now they are going to throw him in the bureaucratic world that is kindergarten. NO!!!
....I digress. This cocoon, this family that Charlie has known for so many years is exactly what he needed to be able to take this step. He feels safe and secure enough to be able to step out and test the waters. What he learned at preschool far surpasses the ABCs and 1,2,3s. He gained the sense of self he needs to move on and fly to that next nest. I know the transition would not be as seamless had he not had such a warm and loving environment to pave the way.
Charlie will be fine. Tom's little girl will be fine. All of the little kids they have grown up with will be just fine, too. Of this I am convinced. Now us, the mommies and the daddies, I'm not so sure of.