Another School Year Begins

The beginning of a new school year always brings mixed emotions.  When my children were younger the summer seemed to go on for an eternity, but now that they are older and much more self-sufficient I wish the lazy days of summer could stretch out just a little longer.   Since my younger son recently passed the driving milestone of life I will no longer be driving a child to school.  As excited as he is to be driving his own wheels onto campus feeling quite full of his upper classman status, me and the family dog will be missing our morning drive onto campus feeling the excitement as another day unfolds. While I’ll miss the occasional conversation and small insight into my son’s day, Georgia, our chocolate lab, will miss the breeze in her face, the other SUV’s with happy dogs passing by, the quirky crossing guard/wrestling coach that would bark as we passed, jumping in the front seat as my son got out, and happily returning home for her morning nap.

My older son is still somewhat scarred from his first day of Kindergarten when I showed up to ride home with him on the school bus.  You would have thought I was insisting on accompanying him on his first date. While he’s always eager for a new experience and leaps in head first with no hesitation, I’ve spent his entire life attempting to direct his enthusiasm toward safe and law abiding endeavors.

My younger son is much more content to go with the flow and was in no hurry to go to school or experience anything outside of a very small radius of his mother.   After crying every morning for his first 2 weeks of first grade and begging me to get a job at the school, he eventually settled in.

As I recently shopped with my college aged son at Target for his back to school essentials, my heart was warmed by a younger boy proudly bragging to his mother about all of the hidden pockets, clips, and zippers on his Mario Brothers book bag.   Instead we were buying shampoo, deodorant, and a toilet scrubbing brush with a lesson on toilet cleaning and the importance of keeping clean surroundings for a clean mind and sense of well-being.  Where are the Mario Brothers or Power Rangers toilet scrubbers? Surely that would elicit some excitement for college aged boys facing toilet cleaning for the first time.

This week my high school junior son left his bed before noon for the first time all summer to rush off to get his books and my college junior son headed off to college this morning comparing his excitement level to that of Christmas day, so I will try to muster my excitement to trade in the less structured days of summer for the daily grind and find the joy in all that a new school year brings.  Maybe Georgia and I will just take a morning ride the first couple of weeks for old times’ sake.

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