The excitement, the energy it’s in the air! Today was my son’s first day of 11th grade. Just two more years and he is a FREE AGENT! Ha!!! I love the first day of school and the proceeding week as he will be up early every day, showered, fed and ready to go at our 6:30a departure time. Then after a few weeks when the newness of a new school year wears off we will be back to the chaos that school mornings bring. Turning of his alarm clock, me going back and forth across the house 563 times to tell him to get up and give him the latest time check. Us rushing out the door late, he begging me to stop at the store to grab a coke and a donut on the way and then inevitably in the attendance office he will go for his morning tardy pass.
I was thinking this morning how much fun it was and wondering how I can make that excitement last. As a matter of fact he was so darn excited that he said he got up in the middle of the night realizing he had a few more hours to go before it was time to get up. Of course all of that early-morning rising has now caught up as I get home from work at 7:30p he is passed out! I will have to take the first day of school news from the little bits I could garner out of Gary…something about a greasy cheeseburger at lunch and getting home late on the bus. Wow, exciting first day…ugh!
I remember my first day’s of school every single year. To prepare we would go school shopping for all the regular things; clothes, shoes, backpack and Pepto Bismal! Yes, every single school year I would start the first week from the toilet. I would actually have to configure the toilet time into my morning routine to make sure I would not miss the bus. As the years went on my Mom would laugh as this ritual never left me; even in my last year of high school I was toilet-bound for that first week. It was just a nervous energy but definitely more excitement than trepidation. I really liked school and loved my circle of friends. Summer’s were boring as heck for me as an only child with two parents working; I was left to watch TV all summer long…b-o-r-i-n-g!!!
I think now about what those things are that cause as much excitement or nervous energy. I have been at my current job for 11 years so there is nothing stirring me up about going to work. Not that I don’t absolutely love my job but I haven’t needed Pepto in 11 years. 🙂 In a lifetime of “always starting” there really is something so exciting about those “first days” of a new venture. Maybe our work lives should mimic the school environment…just think how much fun it would be to have two months off and go back to work in a new department and every year you continue to switch departments until you have worked all departments at which point you graduate. Brilliant however I think graduation leaves you unemployed…oh wait, yea that is exactly how it works…you graduate and welcome to the world of the unemployed! Yea I’ll pass on that excitement.
Happy First Day of School to all of my peeps and peeps children and grandchildren. May you have a great first week, Pepto-free and post those first day of school pics on Facebook for me to stalk!! As for me, this is my last kid, my last 11th grade and coming up on my last senior year of having a school-aged child. I will cherish every single day I have left to wake him up 563 times over the next two years knowing that I will miss these days very soon.
Living It — L.
Originally published at http://alwaysstarting.com on August 13, 2019.