School started today, which means the day has been filled with awkward familiarity, if that makes sense. After four kids and more than a dozen years of first days, I know what to expect, but it always feels new.It amazes me how quickly we get used to summer. Even though I don’t get a summer vacation any more, I still identify with the beginning and end of my kids’ summer vacation. They’re in school now so I have to wake up earlier so I can be ready before I wake them up. And now I stay up later than them, which didn’t always happen during the eighty-one days of summer.During summer it’s easy for us to believe things won’t change. My kids won’t see sunlight before ten o’clock. They’ll forget what day of the week it is. They’ll always wear shorts and flip flops. I won’t have to pack their lunch.But then today comes, and everything we were used to just a few months ago seems new.
I woke my kids up this morning and it seemed cruel for them to be awake so early. They hauled a plethora of pencils and glue sticks and folders in their backpacks. I wondered how they’d manage to only eat once in the next seven hours. Despite sitting in front of video games for hours at a time over the summer, making them sit in a classroom for hours at a time seemed confining.It won’t take long before all of this seems normal again, but today everything seemed out of place.Today was my daughter’s first day of kindergarten. She wore a dress with a Skittles pattern and puppy dog earrings, and her mom put her hair in a fancy ponytail/braid combination, and I packed a jelly sandwich for her lunch. We walked her to her class and helped her get settled. She sat at her desk, and we stood there and watched as she traced letters on a worksheet and pointed out that she shouldn’t have to trace the dot on the letter I because anyone can make a dot.And after a few minutes we told her we loved her and we left. She stayed. By herself. Without us. And she didn’t cry. (Did we?)I spent the day at home, thinking about her. Was she doing okay? Was she making new friends? Did the day seem long? Did she have time to eat all of her lunch? Could she get the Olaf juice bottle open? Would she be exhausted when she got home?Eventually it was time to pick her up. We waited outside the school, and watched as other kindergarteners were dismissed, and then she appeared in front of the window, her bright Skittles dress only outshone by her bright smile. She smiled and waved at her mom, and then saw me and smiled and waved at me.She had a good day.She’ll go back tomorrow. And she’ll go back for 2,338 more days of school before she graduates high school. Most of those days will be rather routine. She’ll have more first days, and I’ll again think it’s cruel to make those poor kids sit inside and work for seven hours.But there will also be more last days of school. And we’ll see the possibilities and adventures of summer spread out before us, and imagine that it will last forever. Just like her siblings, she’ll have music programs, and awards days, and holiday parties, and field trips. We’ll let her take a ditch day every now and then, and she’ll pretend to be sick occasionally.And in six years, she’ll start sixth grade, just like her oldest brother did today. On that day, I’ll look back on this day, and wonder how time passed so quickly. Her oldest brother will begin his senior year in high school on that day, and her other older brother will begin tenth grade.The day will seem new and awkward. The return of responsibility will seem unfair. But soon, we’ll get used to it, just like we do every year.It’s the first day of school. No matter how fun the summer, that first day is always there. Waiting. Full of promise brighter than my daughter’s Skittles dress.But not as bright as her smile.Nothing is that bright.Let me send you more Dry it in the Water posts!
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