Back to School


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I love new back packs. I love new binders and new pencils. I love note cards….only the lined ones, of course. I love freshly sharpened pencils and most of all, I really love blank notebook paper. I remember growing up and each year before school started, we would make a trip to Walmart or the Dollar Store to pick out school supplies. I loved getting home to bags of supplies that needed to be organized and carefully placed in my brand new back pack. I went to the same school with the same people until the middle of my 10th grade year and even though I knew everybody, including many of the teachers, I was still filled with nervous excitement as we left for the first day of school. There was always a sense of adventure….a new grade, new teachers, new notebook paper. Would I make any new friends? Would the boy I liked ask me out? Would my classes be hard? Would I be able to find my fifth period classroom? Would my butt look big in my new gym shorts? The beginning of the school year is a chance for a fresh start…a new beginning….the reset button. We should have this opportunity as adults…a fresh start with new notebook paper every year. It’s one of the things I miss most about being a kid. There are so many emotions and memories about starting back to school. We all have them and we all reach back every year as the ads start for back to school sales.
As a parent now, it’s a little different….well, now that I think about it, maybe it’s not. We still make the trip to the store to get the supplies (though they definitely cost more now and the list is more complicated). We still come home and organize the supplies into the brand new back pack (though Grace doesn’t always do it exactly like I would. I guess I need to let that go.). I still love the smell of new binders and freshly sharpened pencils. And I’m still filled with nervous excitement and hope for the school year. As a mom though, my emotions are just a little heavier, a little more raw. I’m sad that she’s growing up so fast. I’m excited for her new opportunities. I’m nervous about a million little and big things and I’m filled with hope. I pray that her teachers care for her and that they find ways to help her want to learn. I pray that she will choose the right group of friends. I pray that if she decides to keep a boyfriend, that he is good to her and supports her. I pray that she will experience the fun times that I did in high school (well, maybe not all of them). I pray that she has the strength to fight through the challenges that high school brings. And most of all, I pray that she makes good choices that will set her up for her best future self. Yep, I think I’m more nervous as a parent than I ever was as a child as our girl starts her 10th grade year. And I am realizing that the older she gets, the less she needs us. She has always depended on me to get her up on time, make sure she had all her supplies, fix her breakfast and drive her to school. This morning, when I got up at 6:30, she was already up getting ready. She wanted to ride the bus to school so she could hang out with her friends over breakfast in the cafeteria. My job today was too easy. My job today was simply to say the same thing I say everyday, “I hope you have a great day. I love you and I’m proud of you.”. I did this as she was walking out the door and I had my phone in hand, ready to take a pic. You see, I am a capturer of moments. I’m that person who drives everyone else crazy taking pictures all the time. She simply looked back and said, “Mom, you’re not taking a picture, are you?” To which I answered, “I’ll just take this one of your cute new backpack.”. Because today I needed to capture that moment. That moment as our sophomore girl walked down the driveway, ready to take on the world with her new backpack in tow, full of so much hope and plenty of blank notebook paper.


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1 Comment

  • Love it!
    And cute backpack, girl!

    Connie Hurst
    Posted August 15, 2019 at 1:53 pm

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