The year I started kindergarten was a year of big changes for my family and me.  For me it meant the first time I would be away from my mom as I was given the gift of staying home with my mom and siblings as a young child rather than being sent to preschool.  For my two older brothers and my older sister, it meant leaving Catholic school and attending public school for the first time.  The two oldest siblings attended the local junior high and my brother and I were volunteer bussed to an...