Reflections on School Starting

I don't remember every new year of school and yet my mom has pictures of those first days.   When I took the bus to kindergarten she snapped a picture of my little sister crying with the school bus driving away in the background.  This year, I forgot to take a picture of my kids on the first day of school and they are not too thrilled about my proposal to host a reenactment. 

I remember my first day of High School.  My dad dropped me off and I walked up the long sidewalk to the building.  As I opened the door I remember having the thought that I was opening the door to a new adventure - thrilling and terrifying at the same time.  Yesterday I walked back to my car after delivering my kids, four checks, and a pile of forms, to the school office, lamenting the fact that this was my daughter's last first day of middle school.   We are on to high school next year. 

Three years ago was my first day of seminary, a night class.   I was meeting with my friend at her house and left from there to drive to my first class.  She packed me a lunch (dinner), gave me some pencils and sent me out the door with a tiny kiss like one of her little hens.  She made sure I'd call her after class to tell her how it went.  I've always been so grateful someone recognized what a big deal it was to go to school after being away from a classroom for twenty years.   Of course, I called her before I left the parking lot to head home.

Today a new neighbor started school.  She looked relieved when my kids greeted her as she headed down the driveway to the bus.  My daughter told me at dinner she met her at every class to help her find her next room. 

Last night I picked up a young woman from Norway at the airport.  She is starting graduate school here, sight unseen.  A friend of a friend, she is staying with us until she finds roommates and transportation. I took her to get a cell phone which seemed simple enough for our first task, but we quickly learned you can't get a cell phone until you have a state ID, you can't get an ID until you have a residence with a garbage bill or something of the like to prove it.  As we sat at the DMV most of the afternoon, the challenges of starting any kind of new school year floated through my head.  

Who can you encourage that is headed to school?  Who can you support who is sending someone off?