Monday, August 22, 2011

Back to School & Getting Old

Last week I wrote about stressing out our kids and one of the issues that was on the stress radar here was my oldest going back to school. First off I know by relative terms I am young, but if you would like to have a kick in the junk and make yourself feel old, send your first kid off to Kindergarten and have someone kick you in the junk.

This summer has flown by this year, of course faster than every other year it seems, but it is bittersweet. The kids get to go back to their respective holding cells and someone else can watch them for a few hours instead of my pregnant wife. However, my pregnant wife also needs to return to her employer now that the summer is over until the baby is born. As we have been leading up to this monumental event for my 5 year old, there have been some of the typical events for the beginning of school. The most fascinating to me was the school supply list. It was weird. When I was in grade school I remember that I brought my own stuff and if I didn't have something, that was my own problem. So I would come packed up with the new markers, crayons, folders, etc. Not the same with my daughter's school. It seems to be a community pot luck dinner for all supplies. I guess that's a good thing, but its strange to me. Maybe its just the newness of it. I don't know.

Well there was one item on the list that really took me by surprise. Well it was multiples of the same item. They asked that each student bring in 12 glue sticks PER KID. I have never used a glue stick so off the bat this struck me as odd, but the fact that they need a dozen of them seems silly. Twelve glue sticks. Per kid. It was nice that we were able to go in a few days earlier to drop all the stuff off but still. 12. glue sticks.

Ok, so we arrive on the first day of school and I work from home to witness this right of passage for my girl. Hannah (the oldest) had already picked out and practiced wearing her first-day-of-school dress and she is glowing with excitement. The excitement was so much that she decided to get up at 5am and start talking to my wife & I in our bed for 2 hours. We convince her to eat some breakfast and we get ready to hit the bus stop. It was at this time I realized that I was old and that Hannah was getting there too. It was a bit tough to swallow. Not like I was crying or anything, but it makes you think where the last 5 years have gone...

[caption id="attachment_820" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="She can fit in her backpack"][/caption]

4 comments:

  1. Bittersweet days... I will admit here (and only here) that I sat on the curb for about 20 minutes, bawling my eyes out, the day my youngest got on the school bus for the first time.

    Enjoy it all while you've got it - whatever 'it' is!

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  2. Great post, John. I know the feeling; especially being quite old before Alex trucked off to school. Hannah has the added challenge of full-day Kindergarten. Props to her for sticking it out. Most kids last year had half-day.

    I don't understand the supply list either. First grade gets even more extensive.

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  3. My daughter had to have 12 glue sticks too and my local Walmart was out of them! Me and a least a dozen other parents were left wandering the walmart looking for glue sticks in the craft aisle (I did score some there!). It's funny though - my daughter wore the exact same dress on school picture day. Musta been a winner!

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