Truth Tuesday
I have a confession to make: I love back to school. As a child, I relished shopping for school supplies, picking out a new outfit for the first day and savoring the unknown -- who would be in my class, what my teacher would be like, and the newness of everything.
This year, we returned from a two-week vacation packed with college visits, swimming and beach lounging, with just one day until back to school. Any parent can understand how a vacation with three children is hardly a restful experience, fun as it might be. On Sunday, I completed a record seven loads of laundry: the sheets and towels from our trip along with assorted dirty clothes. And then made lunch for the next day and packed up backpacks with summer homework packets and the school supply list.
Whew! Suddenly back to school wasn't looking so fun.
But yesterday, sending my little kids off to two new classes with new sneakers on their feet, I recovered some of that back to school buzz from my youth. Which friends would be in their class? Would they like their teachers? I swapped emails with other first-grade moms to compare notes and wished I could be a fly on the wall.
And when they returned from the first day, lit up with excitement, I couldn't wait to hear about the funny jokes the first-grade teacher told or the familiar faces in the pre-K class. It brought me back about 25 years to Hillside Elementary School and teased me with a hint of the first days we might share in the years to come.
My husband dislikes fall because it signals the end of warm weather and the dark, cold days ahead. But to me, the fall is a new beginning, with the new school year, new sports and activities, new friends and new challenges. I get revved up for the crisp weather and the colors on the trees, and the road ahead.
What was your back to school experience like? Or are you still gearing up for the first day, and in the throes of planning and shopping? Please share!
Photo credit: Avolore via Flickr
Comments