That old feeling...

Remember when you were a kid? Remember getting ready for that first day of school? I remember the week prior to the first day (which by the way was AFTER labor day unlike some schools around here! ) going school shopping for shoes, clothes and supplies. I loved getting supplies the most. New pens, notebooks, erasers and colored pencils...ahhhhhh ... well maybe you weren't as dorky as I was....

My mom would buy each of us an outfit that was always to hot to be wearing on that first day. That didn't stop me though from being overly excited about wearing the new duds and consequently sweating up a storm throughout that first day! I'm sure the teachers (like my 5Th grade science teacher) kept stock in air fresheners working with the likes of us! I wish I had a photo of myself in that brown pair of gauchos with the striped silk shirt complete with long sleeves and a neck piece you tied into a bow! Now that was stylish!!

The night before that first day, my parents sent us all packing to bed around 7:00. You had to draw the shades in order to even think of sleeping since the sun was still blazing in the sky! I'm sure with all the nervous energy abounding they treated it like Christmas eve..... the school won't open if you don't go right to sleep! Funny thing was I think there was some kind of conspiracy in our neighborhood because by 6:30pm, our street was deserted and we were all in bed. I'm sure our parents all sneaked off to one of the neighbor's yards and toasted in the new school year!

Some kids rode the bus or were driven to school by their moms, I was a walker. I say this loosely. As an elementary school student, I was actually a runner and a faller. Each day, my mother would get me into a dress with pretty white tights and I would set off to school with instructions not to run, fall and rip holes in them. I would walk up the hill, turning to wave at her and when I got to the top I'd then turn and RUN all the way down to the bottom of the hill where I would inevitably fall, ripping a huge hole in the knees of my tights and in my knee! Oh to be a kid again!

Today is the first day for my two middle schoolers. Mind you, they did not go to bed early like I'd hoped. By the time my house was still, it was 11 PM and there were no toasts to a new school year for me! They were a bit difficult to wake this morning but once they were up and in motion, they got themselves ready for school. Unlike my mom, I don't go shopping for new outfits for them to wear on the first day of school. I wait until the weather turns cooler and then hit the sales. My kids wear shorts and a dressier T-shirts for the first few weeks. They go to school with one notebook as the teacher will send home a supply list that rivals my weekly paycheck! And unlike me, they will never experience the thrill of running down a hill and falling on the way to school. My kids get curbside bus service! Oh to be a kid today! One thing I am certain of, they will grow up and have their own memories of first school days and how mom made them pose each year for a picture before they headed out the door for a new year of learning.