First of the Last

The start of school came and went with little fanfare around here this year as Younger Son started his senior year of high school. Wife figured out that this is our 20th (and last) year of having a “little one” start school.

It all began when Older Son started kindergarten lo, many years ago. We made a huge deal out of it, of course, taking pictures galore with him and all his little school supplies. As I remember, Wife took him that morning and shed a few tears as she launched her first baby off into the world.

The second day he told us he had tried it and, while it was OK and he liked his teacher enough, he had decided he would rather not go. Somehow in all the preparation, we had failed to tell him that it was a somewhat permanent arrangement. After a few tearful mornings, he finally got in the routine.

Daughter, on the other hand, was born to go to school. From her first day of kindergarten she loved school and will no doubt carry that enthusiasm over to her students when she has her own classroom.

She also LOVED school supplies! She would wait all summer for the trip to buy supplies for the upcoming school year. She would spread them out on the floor and label them.

Younger Son, as he did with everything when his time came, took it in stride when school started for him. When he started kindergarten, Daughter was in fourth grade and she was happy to take him under her wing and show him the ropes.

We used to take their pictures every year when school started. This year, as I said, it was kind of a non-event. I feel kind of bad about that.

So this morning as Younger Son hurried out the door, wearing his football jersey in recognition of tonight’s first game of his final season, I followed him out the door with the camera. After the obligatory eye rolling, he was very accommodating.