Commentary: First day of school always an adventure

Published 10:53 am Monday, August 4, 2014

There is an excitement stirring in the air as the first day of school is just around the corner. Call me weird, but as a teacher I still love the first day of school. Just like a student, it’s hard to sleep the night before. The morning light always seems to feel fresh, like it’s a new beginning of something amazing.

 Since my classroom is the gym, my duty the first day is to direct traffic. I get to wave at the buses passing and all the little faces pressed against the glass searching to see all that’s going on. I get to give high fives to familiar faces and a gentle handshake with a big grin for new faces, especially the “Baby K’s” (kindergarteners). I get to console the parents with teary eyes and I get to congratulate with a pat on the back the parents who have “survived” another summer with the kids saying how bored they are.

My mom worked in Birmingham. Every first day of school from first grade to eleventh, Mom would take a picture of me before the bus came. For 11 years running, I had a picture made either at the bus stop or on the front steps of our home. My senior year was my first year to get to drive. Dad fixed up the farm truck for me. It was a Ford pickup displaying three different colors: Orange, chipped brown and white. Auburn alumni stickers from the previous owner adorned the windshield. The gears were in the steering column. Dad washed and waxed it the night before. He got me an antenna so the radio would play and a “cherry bomb” muffler. At first, I was embarrassed of the truck and I would get to school before most students. Then, I learned that all of the drums of the percussion line of the MJ high school band would fit in the back and I would take the drums back and forth to the practice field. My truck became a big hit.

Back to the first day of school… when I began teaching in 1991, Mom still had me come by and have my picture made. When my husband became a teacher, he too had his picture made the first day of school. I have kept Mom’s tradition throughout the past 19 years with my own kids. This year, I will take a picture of my daughter, who is a junior in high school, and then a few weeks later I will take a picture of my son, who will be in his second year of college. The first day of school is like the start of a new adventure, whether we are the ones being dropped off at school, staying to teach school or anxiously waiting at home for the school news of the day. I love the first day of school!