Song of the day: The Boys of Summer - Don Henley

"Nobody on the road
Nobody on the beach" - Don Henley

Yes, this morning was the first day of the fourth grade and the beginning of the new school year for "The Boy". He was not excited. He had had a wonderful summer and did not want it to end. After waking him up early, I gave him a breakfast of fried eggs, juice, and milk.

"I feel it in the air
The summer's out of reach"

There were no first day of school pictures taken this time around. He is a veteran now. However, for documentation's sake, I will say that he wore a pale yellow golf shirt and blue jeans. He looks great in yellow and so wore this shirt many times over this summer. It had been freshly laundered and pressed for this morning. He also had a brand new black backpack on wheels to pull (drag) behind him. As we gathered his things together, I begin to realize that perhaps he may not be the only one with a black backpack, and so felt the overwhelming urge to do something to differentiate his from any others.

"But I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got your hair combed back and your sunglasses on, baby"

So, for identification purposes, I rigged up a twisted red drinking straw, attached it to a pull cord located on the front of the backpack, and knotted it three times. This way, it could stand out and easily be found among a sea of similar black backpacks. With this simple act, I change gears. My brain has been immediately rewired. Summertime Mom has quietly left the building. Schoolyear Mom is back in town...

The drive to school was quiet. When we arrived, there was chaos all around. I had to circle around a few times to find a parking space...a real mess. We were late, but this is to be understood for the first day of school. The routine had begun again. We eventually arrived on campus, where I walked him to his classroom. This will be the only time that I will do this. He has a lot of supplies and needs help. I walk behind him carrying two boxes of facial tissue and two bags of candy, as he walks ahead of me, rolling his new black backpack behind him. I leave him. He is now the school's responsibility for the next few hours. I used to worry about him from the time I dropped him off, until the time I picked him up. I no longer do. It took me a long time to get to this emotional level. A very long time. I have been told that the worrying will start again when he starts to attend middle school. I will cross that bridge when we get there.

"I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
I see you walkin' real slow and you're smilin' at everyone"

I come home, do a few things and before I knew it, it was time to pick him up from school. I am busy and feeling a bit slow, and so asked his Dad if he could do so...and he did. "The Boy" came home with tons of papers, PTA forms, permission slips, etc;. Somehow, I had forgotten about this part of the beginning of the school year. I fill out the papers and put them in their respective folders to send back to school.

We have completed the first day of fourth grade. Tomorrow, like some kind of ongoing videotape, it begins again. Only 200 plus more schooldays until Spring Break. Only 200 plus more schooldays until Spring Break. Only 200 plus more schooldays until Spring Break...

I only hope that we can survive 'til then.

"I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone..."