Nostalgia for First Day of School

Remember the promise of that first day of school? It was the start of a new school year, with the unknown but the excitement of what was to come...teachers whose reputations we were already aware of, interesting classes but not-so-fun homework, seeing friends again. 


And we all "refreshed" ourselves to start the school year: new back to school clothes; shiny, leather shoes (we didn't wear sneakers in those days); new crayons, pencils, and erasers.

I loved that feeling of the new-ness of it all – the fresh sharpness of a new set of crayons in elementary school before I’d worn the periwinkle or the cornflower blue down to a stump of a crayon (and longing for the box of 48 or 64 crayons which I never seemed to have). I liked the feel of the yellow No. 2 pencils before the erasers had worn down to the metal and the wood snapped in half while pressing too hard during a test.  I liked putting on those nice, unscuffed shoes with my brand-new white anklets (even though I probably wore the same style of Buster Brown shoes for years because of my narrow feet). I don’t think stylish was a word we considered in back to school shopping in those days; the overriding concern probably was to purchase things that were functional and durable.

I remember that feeling of adoring the start of a new school year so clearly, and after 16 years of orienting our lives around the school calendar and continuing that focus with my children, I still sense that anticipation about the start of a new school year. I enjoyed helping my daughters to get ready for the new year and visiting the classroom the day before school began to meet the teacher so she would know, of course, that my children were unusually bright and gifted and extraordinary students. I loved the tradition of taking their pictures on the first day of school, with lunchboxes in hand and new backpacks – from Little Mermaid to JanSport to Vera Bradley – in front of our house on that first day as we awaited the school bus. Usually someone had a goofy grin and begged me to not take a photo or to at least do it quickly. Then as I walked them to the front door of school (early elementary years) or as they boarded the school bus, I always had tears since I knew my little ones were moving on without me and growing up and I was so proud of them. They were off to face new challenges and to become people on their own, with the nurturing of many wonderful teachers.

However, this is the first autumn in many, many years that I'm sending no one off to school. I still had that yearning to buy new supplies, stock the refrigerator, buy a cute lunchbox, check the stores for back to school sales…but my better sense prevailed. As I saw parents walking their little ones to school this week, cameras in hand, I missed that sense of excitement and waiting to find out how the first day went.

But as adults, the school year still feels like a time for a fresh start and I do have a renewed energy for what lies ahead.