Wednesday was the first day of school for Gigi and me.  Or Guinevere, as she would prefer to be called now.  The days leading up to the first day of school were fraught with tears, anxiety, nerves.  But, like all good things, summer had to end and the school year came again, as it does each year.  It was hard for her to give up 10:30 bedtimes and days lounging around the pool and the patio.  As her mom who is also a teacher, I agree.  It is so hard to let go of summer.

 

But then, something happens.  During that first day of school, you can start to see the potential.  You start to feel the buzz, the electricity of the new year.  Suddenly it doesn’t seem so bad to spend the fall, winter and spring with this particular group of people.  Suddenly you get energized with creativity, you can see the potential, and by the end of the day I’ve usually bought in to the new school year, I’ve fallen, at the very least, in like, with 25 of my new favorite people.

This year that happened to Guinevere.  Trepidation led to exultation as she got to know her divine and lovely new teacher, Miss Jansen who calls her a princess, a sweetheart.  She reconnected with her pals from previous years, rekindled the friendships that she didn’t even know she was missing.  At the end of the day, I expected to find a tired and whiny Guinevere who would be missing the freedom of summer, exhausted from the long day, but instead I found an excited little girl, who found the potential in this new group, in her new teacher (who she has fallen head over heels in love with).  She came home that first night and wrote a book about what she did, illustrated it, and took it to school with her the next day to show her teacher.  It’s safe to say that she’s sold on the new school year, hook, line and sinker.

It’s going to be a good year.  A very good year.


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