The Long Road Home

The girls only have one-half day of school today. I told them I had a conference call that I expected to end right before they got out of school. I said I'd probably drive up to get them because I wouldn't have time to walk.
The blond twin said, "We could walk home ourselves."
I said, "Yes you could."

The brunette twin hesitated and started asking questions. Was I going to be home if they walked home? What if it rained? Would I leave the front door open? When all her questions were answered, she said, "Ok, we can walk home."
This has been an ongoing conversation this year. Our neighborhood is full of kids walking with their parents, kids walking by themselves, kids walking with older siblings. Before and after school is a busy time on our neighborhood streets.
The blond twin is ready to walk to and from school without me. She has been talking about this since the first school day. The brunette twin doesn't want to go to or from school without me. I told the girls I'd walk them to school in the morning as Holly expects to walk at that time anyway. We walk Holly at the same time each morning. It doesn't matter if its a weekend, holiday or snowstorm. Holly gets a walk every day.
The afternoon walks are a bit more flexible. Holly doesn't really care about the time for her afternoon walk. Sometimes I don't think she'd care if we skipped it.
If this goes well, we might change our pattern a bit. The blond twin is already talking about walking home from school every day without me. The brunette twin isn't committing to her sister's plan until she gets through today's experiment.
I have to admit I was kind of happy that the girls wanted to walk home from school by themselves today. It makes my morning a lot easier. If they start walking home most days by themselves, I'll still walk Holly every afternoon, but I will have more flexibility.
All this is getting ahead of today. We'll see what happens when the girls get home in a few hours. Until then, it's all just day dreaming.