One would think that, after several other "first days," a mother would be less inclined to nervousness at the end of summer. Yet, this morning, I found myself more anxious than ever before.
Perhaps it was because we have had such a challenge of a summer, working through lots of emotional challenges as certain family members come to a point of familial security and have begun expressing more...
Perhaps it was because I know that one of our boys finds academic settings to be as comfortable as making a seat out of a stegosaurus' back; there were last year's tears....
Perhaps it was because I actually had the wrong day marked on the calendar for the first day of school and only heard Monday night (and double-checked my own paperwork to find) that school started on Tuesday and not Wednesday...(:P)...
Perhaps it was because we had decided that Andrew ought to make a transition this year from an English program to a French immersion program, which involves a new set of classmates and more language demands--unknowns that had him a bit uptight and his parents really hoping for the best...
Perhaps it was because, with all our hard family work, summer seemed a bit short this year, and I felt a little sorry to be sending them out again so soon...
But out they went.
And returned with smiles and stories of their schoolday. Andrew's first words lifted my heart: "My class is awesome!" (Mind you, there was no homework handed out today!)
(Taking "first day of school" pictures of second and third grade boys should require a special license, I think. And some kind of reward. Perhaps copious amounts of chocolate!)
(Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, Abby WILL go to kindergarten [again] this year. Remember this? She had "meet the teacher" this afternoon and will have her official "first day of school" on Thursday...so stay tuned!)