First Day of School

I made it through another first day of school.  I'd like to think that every year I am a little more savvy about my kids' schools and have the routine down to a science.  This year, just as in previous years, I was surprised at how much this was not actually the case.  I've always strived to get my kids to school on time.  Especially on the first day.  I was shocked 2 years ago when Sydney reported back to me on the first day of school and told me that she was the last one to class and that everyone was working on an assignment when she walked in and got stared down.  Wait a minute.  I watched her walk into her class 5 minutes before the bell.  How can they start school before the bell even rings?  This year, I inadvertently found out.  After a peaceful morning including a pancake breakfast, John left to take the older kids to school at 7:15.  At 7:25 it just felt like it was time to go, so I left with Whitney.  As soon as I got out of my neighborhood I realized how early we were.  School didn't start until 8:00.  That's when I made a  u-turn and started heading home.  That's when I decided that it wouldn't hurt me to be early and that I would get an awesome parking spot if I went now.  That's when I did another u-turn and headed to school after all.  I was bewildered when I arrived at school only to realize that I was the last one to get there.  It was 7:35.  Are these people crazy?  They don't even open the doors to let kids in until 7:50 and the bell doesn't ring until 8:00.  I know that people are excited because it's the first day of school.  So are we.  But not  typically excited enough to stand and stare at it for 15 minutes before it even opens.  I now see why school starts before the bell rings on the first day.

 As I stood outside the entrance feeling a little smug about my responsibly prepared beginning of the school year papers that I had ready to turn in, I chatted amicably with fellow parents until we ran out of things to say.  That left us with about 14 minutes to kill.  I am not an engineer but sometimes I act like one.  I'm not always in the mood to converse.  I looked around the school and remembered that taking pictures of your child on the first day is a worthwhile tradition so we walked over to take one in front of the sign. The line was not short but there were two sides of the sign so you could go on either side to take a picture, kind of like a buffet table.  One side had about 10 people in line and the other side had 2.  I chose the obvious side not realizing that this was also the side that most lacked picture in front of sign taking etiquette.  You would have thought that they were taking wedding pictures.  The family in front of me had 3 different cameras and sported several different poses.  "Now one with just me."  Now one with all of us." "Let's try that other pose again." All the while I kept my eye on that other line kind of like you do in a grocery store to see whether or not you chose correctly.  Yes, it would have been faster to go in the long line.  This was no big deal.  Just a bit of a let down.  Nobody likes to lose a bet.  Despite choosing the wrong side,  I still had 10 minutes to wait until the bell rang.

After what seemed like forever, the bell finally rang and the office staff unlocked the front doors. Ignoring Liberty's new "hug and go" policy implemented to keep parents out of the school and the halls less congested,  I walked Whitney into her class.  I wasn't going to until other parents started talking about how they couldn't possibly mean for the policy to start on the first day of school.  That's when it occurred to me, "Yeah, they couldn't possibly mean that."  To my discredit, it is easy to rally me up for rebellion.  Only about 15% of the parents stood together in the cause but I am used to being in that percentile range.  Here she is with her new 4th grade teacher.  He is a good guy.  (When her 3rd grade teacher asked for help with her daughter's wedding I said, "Absolutely!  Oh and by the way, we'd really like to get Mr. Ronen next year."  [wink, wink] Maybe she would have ended up with him anyway.  But I will say that if she hadn't gotten him I still would have been glad I helped with the wedding.  It was fun.)

Whitney was one of only a few students that got a first day of school picture with her new teacher. Sometimes it pays to have an outlaw for a parent. 

I stopped by the office on my way to exit the school in order to turn my papers into the office.  That's when I found out that they had been due 3 days ago at back to school night.  Three days late is not bad though and no harm was done so I still left the school with a sense of pride at my accomplishment.  I know what you're thinking.  How difficult can it be to fill out and turn in papers on time?  Apparently it's pretty close to impossible for me because on the way home when I stopped off at the older kids'  school to drop off the preselected lunch menus that must be filled out and paid for by the 10th of each month that school is in session if you want to eat school lunches, they told me I was too late and it had been due last week.  That's when my good humor left me and all I could do was stare blankly at the receptionist.  My only response was, "Wow."  And I turned around and walked out feeling defeated. Who is excited enough about school to consider when your kids are going to eat this semester, record it on your calendar, add up the cost, and write out a check a week before school even starts?  Ummm, apparently everyone except me.  I'm only awesome enough to do that the night before so that I can come home and erase everything from my calendar and rip up my check.